Super Mario 11: Penumbra Rising
by NintendoMasterGC
Summary: Mario's destiny, foretold by the Oracle, is coming to pass...and destiny, no matter how undesirable, no matter how evil, cannot be resisted... Behold the triumph of the ultimate evil. Rated T for demons and bloodshed and other good stuff.
1. This Is Your Destiny

_**Author's Note: **_YAHOO! Finally it comes down to this, the story I consider my personal masterpiece! Words cannot express my joy at finally being able to share this story with all of my faithful readers (and maybe some new ones too!). I've waited so long to get to this point and we're finally here! I hope you all enjoy reading story #11 as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's been fun! Without further ado, the eleventh installment in the Super Mario Series!

* * *

Wicked whisper, silent secret,  
Nemesis of good and right,  
Sealed beyond the rift of chaos,  
Master of eternal night.

Darkness comes, and none resist it,  
Save the hero of the light;  
See, his soul is shadow-tainted  
By the evil lord of night.

Thirteen all-empowered relics  
Hold night's shaded strength in sleep;  
They, united, break the binding  
Chains that evil weakened keep.

He that gathereth the relics  
Holds night's power in his hand—  
Power to keep the foe in bondage  
Or let ruin stalk the land.

Hero, you must relics gather—  
They can cleanse your shaded soul;  
Let the wrong one take the relics—  
Ne'er again will you be whole.

* * *

_"Dark...so dark... Where am I?"_

_He cast his eyes about him, peering through the darkness down the hall ahead. Dimly he could make out a set of black double doors with half moon handles dead ahead, away in the blackness beyond._

This is your destiny...

_"Who said that?"_

_Warily he scanned the darkened stone hallway. No one was in sight. But that whisper in his ear..._

_He started forward suddenly, as if his body were being forced to move. He tried to stop himself but could not. Horror registered on his face._

_"Why can't I stop?!"_

_Mechanically his hands reached for the doors and pulled them open despite his commands to the contrary. As he stepped involuntarily into the shadowed room beyond, he heard the whisper again._

This is your destiny...

_"What destiny?? Where _am _I?!"_

_The instant he spoke those words he remembered. His breath caught in his throat. The room was too dark for him to discern its size or shape, but one thing stood out like a giant looming in the shadows._

_The door._

_That huge, gigantean monstrosity called a door. A door engraved with intricate symbolism, symbolism that he could not read meaning into. Then, for the third time, came that whisper._

This is your destiny...

_And just as he opened his mouth to scream -_

Mario groaned and turned over in bed. He crammed his pillow over his ears to block out the annoying buzz of the alarm clock that had so rudely terminated his rest.

"Be quiet," he mumbled through his mattress.

The alarm clock, oblivious to Mario's frustration, continued its piercing wake-up call.

Mario lifted the pillow from his head and groggily opened one sleepy eye, turning his head to see the bold red numbers on the digital clock. _Six AM,_ he thought, his foggy mind only partially comprehending the significance of time.

Reluctantly he stretched out a hand to the nightstand beside the bed and shut the shrill beeping off. "Come on, Mario, wake up," he mumbled to himself with a gaping yawn as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. His legs dangled off the edge of the bed. He sat there for a moment, letting the fog clear from his mind.

Tentatively he stood up, bracing himself for the impact of his bare feet on the chilly floor.

"OUCH!!"

Mario winced in pain as his sore muscles rebelled against his motion. "Oh, ow, ohhh..." He massaged his left shoulder, trying to relax the tender muscles. Apparently he was being given a reminder of the beating he'd taken yesterday.

"Next time I go up against Master Hand and Crazy Hand, I hope I can fight on my feet, not my face," he groaned, stepping stiffly toward the bathroom door. "Ouch... Stupid Empress Cyanara. Of all the mean tricks. Using the Smash Bros. tournaments to perfect those two Hands just so she could pummel _me_ with them. Grrr..."

Stepping into the bathroom, Mario snapped the lights on and immediately shut his eyes against the bright fluorescent bulbs. He squinted at the mirror over the sink and sighed.

"Man, for a guy's who's supposed to have breakfast with his fiancée this morning, I sure am a sight." He ran his fingers over his face, feeling his countless bruises and two black eyes. "Mark down one more thing Cyanara needs payback for."

After showering and toweling off, Mario slithered into his signature outfit, red shirt and blue denim overalls. Then he stationed himself in front of the mirror again and began meticulously combing and trimming his luxurious 'stache.

"At least she didn't ruin my mustache with that beat-down," Mario commented to himself as he finished his task and stepped back to view the results. He stroked his mustache thoughtfully a few times. "Perfect."

Mario now left the bathroom adjoining his bedroom and moved past his own bed to a second, identical bed. He shook the shoulder of its occupant.

"Luigi."

The only response was a loud snore.

"Luigi!"

Mario jostled Luigi's shoulder, but the younger brother refused to awaken.

"OK, you asked for it." Mario opened the drawer of the nightstand and removed a white circular mask. He slipped the mask on and leaned over Luigi.

"...ooooOOOOOoooo......ooooOOOOO!!"

Luigi's eyes flew open, and the first thing he saw was a large white Boo staring him in the face.

"YAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Luigi dived under his blankets and huddled there, shivering. "D-Don't eat me!"

Mario removed the Boo mask. "I told you I'd scare you awake if you wouldn't get up, remember?" He tossed the mask back into its drawer.

Luigi poked his head out from beneath the sheets. His teeth were chattering. "P-P-Please, M-Mario, d-don't d-do th-that! I h-hate g-ghosts!"

"And that makes them a particularly good method of waking you up in the morning," replied Mario evenly. "I've got to go. Peach is expecting me at the castle."

"Y-Yeah, f-fine," shivered Luigi as he crept out of the blankets.

Mario left the bedroom and walked through the living room, past the still-glowing fireplace, to the door of his little cottage. He pulled his red cap from the peg by the door and flopped it jauntily atop his head. Opening the door, he stepped outside into the warm morning air.

"Looks like it's gonna be hot today," he remarked, feeling the sun's rays warming him. He eyed the warp pipe about ten yards from the front door. A little spark of determination came into his eyes, and he grinned.

"Today's the day I hit you dead-on, you crazy pipe," he informed the green tube.

Suddenly Mario sprang from the front steps in a magnificent leap, flying through the air toward the pipe. It looked like he would make it into the pipe in one jump. Closer...falling closer...

Mario's soles struck the edge of the pipe at an angle, bouncing him backward to land on his rear in the dirt. He scrambled to his feet, brushing the dirt from the seat of his overalls.

"Ouch," he said to himself as his still-tender muscles gave him another reminder of their soreness. He glared at the pipe. "Why is it that I can never get inside you in one shot?"

The pipe did not reply.

"I'll get you next time, just you wait and see," Mario warned the pipe before making another, smaller leap that sent him shooting down the warp pipe at typical warp speed. In moments he popped out of the pipe's other end with a "Yahaa!" and landed on the soft grass of Peach's castle grounds.

Mario took a deep whiff of the flower-scented air and sighed in contentment. He sauntered down the long flagstone pathway that led from the main road behind him to the castle, his eyes roving over the neatly terraced grounds.

As he neared the castle gate, a Toad in battle armor stuck his head over the wall and beamed down at him. "Hiya, Mario!"

"Hey up there, Michael!" Mario called back with a smile. "Is your dad back from the Empress's old fortress yet?"

"No," answered the eight-year-old, still beaming, "so I get to make morning rounds all by myself!"

"You're doing a great job, little guy," Mario praised him. "I don't suppose you could get the gates open, could you?"

"I'll try!" Michael's head disappeared behind the wall, and after a few minutes the heavy oak-and-iron gates began to creak slowly open. Mario hooked his fingers around the edge of the right-hand gate and pulled while Michael pushed, and the two of them succeeded in dragging the huge door open enough for Mario to get inside.

"Thanks, buddy," Mario told Michael, giving his helper a friendly knuckle rub on his skull. Michael grinned and ducked to avoid Mario's knuckles.

"You keeping up with that sword of yours?" Mario asked as he again began walking along the stone pathway, this time inside the castle wall, heading for the main building with Michael tagging along.

"You bet!" Michael reached for his sword and slid it out of its sheath. The sun glinted off the polished steel. "I'm gonna win the World Swordfighting Tournament next year!"

"You did place second this year, so I wouldn't be surprised," Mario agreed. "You'd beat _me_ any day, that's for sure!"

Mario reached the door of the castle building and opened the door, stepping into the castle lobby. Michael trailed him as usual. Crossing the sunburst rug in the center of the room, Mario climbed the stairs and entered the double doors at the top. Emerging in the second lobby area, he continued forward, climbing another small staircase and passing through another double door, entering the hall that ran throughout the castle. He crossed the red-carpeted hall and opened the golden double doors before him and entered the throne room itself.

"I'm here, Peach."

Princess Peach looked up from her conversation with Toadsworth, and a smile broke over her fair face. "Mario!" she exclaimed warmly, rising from her golden throne. "I wasn't expecting you so soon!"

"Master Mario, of all the rude interruptions!" Toadsworth spluttered, waving his cane in the direction of the intruding plumber. "Barging into the royal throne room without so much as announcing your presence with a messenger! The nerve!"

"Toadsworth..." Peach warned him.

Toadsworth turned to the Princess again. "You Highness, _this_ is the man you're engaged to?! He ought to at least show proper decorum in the presence of royalty!"

"He doesn't have to," Peach reminded him. "This isn't a formal call, and besides," she added, casting a glance at Mario, "we _are_ engaged."

Toadsworth humphed and started for the doors Mari had just passed through. Mario could hear him grumbling under his breath. The aged steward creaked out of the throne room and slammed the doors behind him.

Peach stepped down from her throne and came to Mario through the sunlight streaming through the windows. He hugged her.

"I'm so glad to see you this morning, Mario," Peach said with a smile after the embrace had ended. "I haven't felt this happy in more than a month!"

I'm guessing there's more than one reason for that," Mario replied with a twinkle in his eye.

Peach nodded, still smiling. "Come on, let's go to breakfast. Tace T. should have everything ready by now." She took his hand, and together the two left the throne room, reentered the main lobby, and turned left into the Princess's private dining room. Peach seated herself at the head of the table and motioned for Mario to sit on her immediate right. No sooner had the two seated themselves than the door opened, and in came Tace T. and her kitchen crew, bearing the morning meal in ornate silver dishes. Mario's mouth watered at the delicious scent of waffles and omelets.

"Looks like the head chef has done it again," Mario commented as the dishes were arranged on the spotless white tablecloth. "Tace T. hasn't ruined a dish in ten years."

"Oh, I have," replied the head cook, red braids swinging, "but I do it in the kitchen where you won't see me!"

Mario chuckled as the kitchen crew filed back out of the dining room. He turned to Peach. "Shall we begin?"

"Let's," replied Peach with a smile, reaching out to remove the domed cover of the main platter. Mario's nose was immediately caught up to scent heaven as the aroma of 'Shroom Omelet bombarded his nostrils. Peach served Mario a more than generous portion, eyeing the heavenly look on his face as he inhaled the food smells. She took some omelet herself, and the two fell to their meal.

Mario's menu this morning consisted of the 'Shroom Omelet, a stack of five steaming waffles drenched in maple syrup, ten strips of Goombacon, several Koopastries, three glasses of orange juice and one of milk, and one of Tace T.'s famous cinnamon rolls, steaming hot and dripping with vanilla icing. It took him a record one hour, seventeen minutes, and fifty-three seconds to finish the meal. Peach finished long before he did and simply sat quietly in her chair, smiling to herself as Mario attempted to fill the bottomless pit he had for a stomach. At last he drained the last drop of orange juice from his third glassful, clunked his glass back onto the table, and wiped his sticky mouth with his napkin.

"Dee-licious!" he sighed, patting his stomach. Peach giggled.

"So," he began, settling back in his chair to let his meal digest, "why _exactly_ are you so happy this morning? Might it have anything to do with that diamond you're wearing on your finger?"

Peach smiled and held out her right hand, gazing at the fiery brilliance of the gem set in her engagement ring. "That's part of it," she acknowledged happily, "but there's more to the story."

"Hmmm..." Mario furrowed his brow in thought. "Is it because Cyanara's gone?"

Peach nodded. "She gave me so many pains and heartaches that I'm glad to see her finally put down."

"You'd think that, knowing you as she does, she'd accept the fact that _you_ got the throne and not her," Mario remarked.

"She _is_ my older sister," Peach acknowledged, "and she _does_ know why I got the throne—and why she was banished—but she never accepted her punishment. Father was right about her—the evil in her was stronger than any of us ever realized." Peach looked a bit sorrowful at the memory of her sister. "She's hated me ever since her banishment. At least she's no longer a threat."

"We hope she's not, anyway," Mario reminded her. "We don't know where she is, remember? Yesterday she just walked out of her fortress and we haven't seen her since. Who knows what she could be up to?"

"I would certainly prefer that she _not_ come back," responded Peach with finality.

"Yeah, me too," conceded Mario, "but think about it. Cyanara was literally behind _everything_ bad that's ever happened to the Mushroom Kingdom. For crying out loud, she even mutated a baby Koopa to make Bowser just so she could sic him on you!" Mario began checking off the worst of the Mushroom Kingdom's past foes on his fingers. "She was behind Grodus and the X-Nauts, the Shroob invasion, the Shadow King and Queen, the Shadow Legion, Zaron and his Staff of Shadows, the dimensional splitting of the kingdom—" He stopped. "If I were her I wouldn't be giving up just yet."

"Please, Mario, don't even suggest that," Peach pleaded. "Cyanara's gone. I'm not ready to start thinking about her possible return. I want to enjoy the peace while it lasts."

"I'm sorry, Peach," Mario apologized. "I don't mean to bring back all those horrible memories of your sister."

"It's all right," Peach replied, brushing a tear away.

Mario's heart wrenched. Here he had gone and spoiled his Princess's morning with his remarks on the past few weeks. He knew the trauma Peach had experienced under the cruel hand of her estranged sister. Somehow he had to make things right again, but words just didn't seem adequate. He simply laid his hand on Peach's and looked her in the face, silently asking forgiveness. Peach looked back at him through her welling tears.

Suddenly Peach's smile broke through again, and she leaned over and hugged Mario. He patted her shoulder as he returned the embrace.

"I didn't mean to make you sad," he murmured.

Peach nodded, still hugging him. "I know," he replied. "It's OK." She released Mario from her arms. "I just can't stay sad any more. Not with you here with me!" She leaned toward him again, lips ready. Mario shut his eyes in happy anticipation as their lips neared each other.

Suddenly the dining room door burst open with a bang, and Toadsworth came rushing into the room as fast as his elderly limbs would allow. When he saw Mario and Peach with lips locked, he stared in horror, aghast at the scene before him. For a moment he was speechless. Then he found his tongue.

"ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS!!!"

Peach paid Toadsworth no attention. She finished giving Mario her kiss and pulled away into her normal sitting position. "Yes, Toadsworth, what is it?" she asked innocently.

"Wh-What on earth do you think you're _doing_, Your Highness?!" spluttered Toadsworth, face cherry red. "Engaging in—in such indecorous conduct! Of all the scandalous—" Toadsworth suddenly remembered why he'd come. "And while you two are in here—" he fumbled for words, finally spitting out his word choice in disgust—"_kissing_, the captain of the guard has been severely injured! Your Highness, you must—"

Peach bolted out of her chair. "Injured?! Russ T.?!"

"Of course he's injured!" retorted Toadsworth. "Why else would I tell you he's injured?"

"Then don't just stand there, DO SOMETHING!" burst out Peach, making a rush for the door. "Get Dr. Herb T. immediately! Come on, Mario!" Mario jumped up from his seat, nearly bowling Toadsworth over as he dashed out the door after Peach.

Peach and Mario burst into the front lobby to see a tall Toad in steel armor being lugged through the front doors. The Princess gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"Oh, Mario! Look at him! He's—he's—"

"He's cut up pretty bad," Mario finished grimly. "Wonder what happened to him?"

"EEEEK! RUSS!!"

A female Toad in a purple outfit came speeding through the doors behind Mario and Peach. She flew down the stairs at breakneck speed and halted beside the nearly unconscious victim being carried inside. "Russ, Russ, can you hear me, dear? Say something!" Tears began to flow from her pretty dark eyes.

"...uuhhh...Rachel..." the captain groaned faintly. He opened his puffy, bloodshot eyes and looked at his wife in pain. Rachel caressed his cheek, the tears now flowing like a river.

"Excuse me, Your Highness!" Another Toad, this one dressed in a doctor's white coat, brushed past Mario and Peach on his way into the lobby. He moved quickly to the wounded Toad and had the carriers set their burden on the rug in the center of the floor. Russ T. groaned pitifully as he was laid on the rug. Rachel knelt beside him, clasping his bloodied hand in hers and crying still.

"Can you save him, doctor?" she asked with a sob, looking up to the medical expert kneeling beside her.

"I don't know, Rachel," replied Herb grimly as he felt for Russ's pulse. It was almost nonexistent. He looked up at Mario standing on the balcony with Peach. "Mario, get the nurses and a stretcher. We've got to get the captain into the infirmary ASAP!"

"Got it!" Mario turned and sped along the balcony, entering the door at its far right end. He turned left down a white hallway and soon found himself at the nurses' station. The Toad nurses looked up up from their seats at various monitors, surprised to see Mario.

"Doc needs you guys in the front lobby immediately! Russ T.'s been hurt! And bring a stretcher!"

The nurses' station exploded into action as each girl scrambled for needed items—bandages, antiseptics, painkillers, and of course the requested stretcher. Mario rushed the troupe back to the lobby, and the medical team set to work getting Russ on the stretcher and dressing his wounds. Rachel held Russ's hand through the entire ordeal. Once the bleeding was under control, Dr. Herb and his team carried the captain back to the infirmary on the stretcher.

Peach stepped down the stairs, knelt, and took the still-weeping Rachel into her arms. "It's all right, Rachel," she said comfortingly. "He'll be OK."

"Oh, Your Highness—" Peach's personal servant sobbed and got no further. She buried her face in Peach's shoulder and wept.

"Mario?"

Mario, still on the balcony, turned to see Michael standing behind him.

"...What's wrong with Mom?"

Mario bent down to Michael's level. "Your dad's been hurt, Michael. He's in the infirmary right now."

Michael's face betrayed both fear and childlike concern. "Is...Is he gonna be OK?" he asked in a small voice.

Mario hesitated. "Michael...that I don't know. I hope so." He would have said more, but Peach was leading Rachel up the stairs to the balcony. Michael ran to his mother and squeezed her hand, mutely trying to impart some reassurance to her. Rachel looked down at her eight-year-old son through her tears and returned the squeeze.

"Come on, let's go see Russ," Peach offered. "I'm sure Herb has managed to get him comfortable by now." Rachel nodded, still crying a little.

Quietly the Princess led the little group into the infirmary and into the white room where Russ was now lying on a hospital bed, eyes closed as if exhausted. The sunlight streaming through the window illuminated the body of the Toad captain, now armor-less and swathed in bandages. The heart monitor beeped quietly in the background.

Dr. Herb T. was standing on the far side of the bed, facing the group as they entered. Seeing Rachel, he quietly came up to her.

"Rachel, your husband is seriously injured, but none of his injuries are life-threatening. He's just lost a lot of blood, which we're replacing through the IV." Herb's face was kind. "Don't worry. He should be just fine in a week or two."

"Thank the Stars!" Rachel breathed in gratitude, clasping the doctor's hand. "And thank you, too!" She immediately seated herself near Russ's head and began to call his name softly.

"Russ? ...Russ?"

Russ T. slowly opened his eyes. He saw his wife near his bed and gave her a little smile, as much of a smile as he could muster through his pain. "Hi...honey..."

"Dad?" Michael came up to the bedside.

"Hey there...little guy..." Russ winked slowly, almost painfully, at his son. Michael winked back and smiled.

"Listen, son...Rachel...I'm...I'm gonna be OK. Don't worry...about me..."

"Attaboy, Russ," Mario spoke up from the rear of the room. "That's the tough old captain we all love. You just keep that attitude and focus on getting well fast."

"Right...Mario..." Russ drew a deep breath. "Always...duty first...even in danger." He lifted his eyes to the Princess, who stood beside Mario near the room's door. "Your Highness...I...I need to report..."

"Later, Russ," Peach told him gently. "You need rest now."

"No...it can't wait..." Russ shifted himself painfully on the bed. "My duty...can't...wait..."

"Then tell me, Russ," Peach replied gently.

Russ took another deep breath before beginning. "Your Highness...Cyanara's...fortress...it's...it's alive!"

Peach and Mario's faces registered disbelief. "Cyanara's fortress?" repeated Peach. "The place is deserted. Cyanara left with her bodyguards and staff yesterday. There can't be anything going on there." Peach looked hard at the captain. "That's why I left you there—to keep and eye on things. Is anyone inside?"

"No... Just whatever...is making the place...go crazy..."

"What are you saying, Russ?" inquired Mario.

"I was standing...outside...that room...you told me to guard...the one with the huge door," Russ began hoarsely. "It was about...ten PM. I heard...a noise...inside the room. I reached for the handles...to open...the doors...and they...they flew open...by themselves...and knocked me into...the wall."

Rachel slipped her hand into her husband's and pressed it gently.

"I thought...I'd better...report that to you...so I ran down the hall...to the door...that leads...to the stairs leading up to the...the main level. That door did the same...thing...and knocked me out...

"I must have been...unconscious...for almost an hour... When I woke up...the door was open...so I got upstairs and...and headed for the exit. All of a sudden...this side door opened...in the hall I was in...and these swords came...flying out...at me."

Rachel gasped. "That's why you're hurt?"

"Not quite...dear. They weren't just...being shot at me...like a booby trap. They were floating...hovering...in mid-air...attacking me...like a legion of invisible soldiers..."

Peach lifted a hand to her mouth, her expression a mixture of fear and surprise, but said nothing, not wanting to interrupt Russ's story.

"I managed...to fight my way through...but more weapons just kept coming. Axes, knives, spears, whips, maces...you name it...it attacked me. The whole fortress...was alive...

"It seemed possessed."

At the word _possessed_, Mario started but said nothing.

"I got out eventually," Russ continued, "but by then...I was pretty well done for. Then I had to almost crawl...for five miles...to get here. I gave out just...inside the gate. If that gate...hadn't been left open...I would have bled to death outside...before anyone had seen me."

"Dad," Michael spoke up in a small voice, "it was me that left the gate open. Me and Mario opened it so Mario could get into the castle."

Russ smiled tiredly at his son. "Michael...you saved your dad's life...you know that?"

Michael smiled back.

"Even though I've told you...not to forget to close the gate," Russ added with a twinkle in his eye and a rasp in his dry throat.

Mario stood thoughtfully for a moment, mulling over the story Russ had told. He laid a hand on Peach's shoulder. She turned inquisitively.

"Come with me, Peach."

He escorted Princess Peach out of the castle building and out to the wall enclosing the grounds. Together they climbed the stone steps set against the wall's inner face, at last reaching the walkway atop the wall.

"Why are we here?" asked Peach in puzzlement, shivering a little in the cool breeze always present at the top of the wall.

Wordlessly Mario pointed north. The two stared into the distance. Somewhere, far out, past miles of endless forest, a single black cloud loomed in the clear blue sky.

"What is that?" Peach queried.

"That cloud is directly over Cyanara's fortress," Mario replied quietly.

Peach looked at Mario. "You mean...!"

"She's up to something." Mario still stared out over the wall at the haunting cloud in the distant sky. He felt strangely drawn to that cloud. It seemed to beckon him, call him to itself...

He turned to Peach. "I'm going."

"No, Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "You can't! Remember what Cyanara said—about that huge door Russ talked about? You're the only one who can open that door and unleash the evil behind it!" Her eyes were pleading. "Don't do it, Mario, please! It's too dangerous!"

Mario looked her in the eyes. "Cyanara's up to something, Peach. Either I go and put a stop to it, or she takes over the kingdom eventually—which she will, knowing her persistence." He heaved a great sigh. "It's a tough choice, I know, but you stand a far greater chance of losing me if I _don't_ go."

"I still don't want you to go," Peach repeated seriously. "Cyanara's far too strong, even for you!"

Mario took Peach's hand in his. "Peach," he said gently, "you're special to me. You're beautiful and I love you."

Peach blushed and dropped her eyes.

"I'm going because of _you,_ Peach. If I don't, I may as well just hand you to your sister on a silver platter. She'll hunt you down and kill you if I don't stop her." Mario's gaze was filled with intensity and love at the same time. "Please understand. Please."

Peach raised her eyes to meet Mario's. Then she smiled, leaned forward, and met Mario's lips with hers. Mario was at first surprised by the gesture, then kissed her back.

"I understand," Peach whispered, gazing into Mario's eyes. A single tear ran down her cheek. "Be safe."

"I will," he replied. "Now don't worry about me. I won't be gone long." He embraced her tightly for a fleeting second, then turned and dashed down the wall staircase, heading for the gates. Peach watched as he passed through the open gates and began running down the path toward the main road. She waved until he was lost to sight.

"Please," she whispered to herself, almost as a prayer, "_please_ be safe..."


	2. Penumbra's Awakening

**_Author's Note:_ **Happy Birthday to Michaiah, whose only gift request was an unusually large amount of suspense and violence on September 10. No unwrapping required.

* * *

Mario jogged down the dirt road at a steady pace, heading north. Every step brought him closer to that ominous black cloud nearly five miles distant. He wiped the sweat from his brow as he ran. "Man, it's getting hot out here," he panted, looking ahead to the forest some distance away and sighing in anticipation of the trees' cool shade. The heat was starting to weaken his legs, but he kept on toward the forest.

After what seemed an eternity in the hot sun, Mario reached the forest edge and gratefully sank down against a tree to rest. "Ahhhh, can't beat a shade tree on a hot day," he sighed as he relished the deliciously cool shade. "Well, maybe Tace T.'s iced tea could. Mmmm..." He licked his lips. He could nearly feel that cold, sweet tea running down his parched throat. "I'll have to get some of that when I get back."

Feeling refreshed, Mario got to his feet and began trekking through the trees. The main road did not take a direct route to Cyanara's fortress; Mario was obliged to follow rarely-used and heavily overgrown trails as he pressed on toward his destination.

"Ouch." He grimaced as a thorny vine tore through his sleeve and scratched his arm painfully. Tugging, he pulled himself free of the spines and continued his journey down the trail, swinging an arm ahead of himself to catch the spider webs. One web, however, decided to evade Mario's hand. Or so it seemed to him.

"Blech!" he spat in disgust as he frantically wiped his face and hat off. Now he could feel invisible little spiders crawling all over him. He shivered.

"What next?" he grumbled, plodding northward still. He was now about halfway to his destination. "Falling timber?"

"Tim-ber!" rang out a cry from behind Mario, and he turned to see a huge fifty-foot pine falling straight toward him. He instantly took to his heels and barely got out of the way before the mighty giant hit the ground with a tremendous crash.

"What's the idea of trying to kill me like that?" Mario yelled.

The Toad logger stood in shock behind the tree stump, stunned at who he'd nearly smashed. "I-I-I'm so sorry, Mario! I didn't realize you were out here!" He nervously dropped his ax and hurriedly picked it up again.

"It's OK, no harm done. Just give your warning _before_ the tree starts to fall on my head next time, OK?"

"S-Sure!" The Toad with the ax turned to the next tree and began chopping into its thick trunk. Mario continued on his way.

As he neared his destination, he suddenly felt a wave of chill wash over him, and he shivered. Looking up, he saw that he had now come under the shadow of that massive black cloud overhanging the fortress. Again he felt that strange tug at his soul, as if something or some_one_ were calling him forward...

He kept on for another ten minutes and at last broke out of the forest onto a rocky plain that gradually sloped upward, finally peaking as a low mountain. Cyanara's fortress was perched near the summit. The stronghold was foreboding, standing outlined against the low black cloud overhead. Mario felt a wind come up out of nowhere and breeze past him with a low, haunting moan. He stared up at the fortress looming ahead of him, and a steely determination came into his eyes.

"All right, Cyanara," he flung to the wind in challenge, "if you're in there, I'm gonna make you pay for every moment of pain you've ever put Peach through—which makes for a LOT of payback!"

A thought struck him, and he caught his breath. "...And if you're not...then what in the world is going on here?"

He started up the rocky slope, somewhat hesitant to approach the fortress now. Was Cyanara really within this...living building, as Russ had described it in so many words? The uncertainty of _if_ haunted him as he scaled the low-sloping mount.

Shortly Mario found himself standing before the great iron gates that sealed the entrance to the fortress. He reached out and tugged at the handles, but the massive gates were unyielding. After yanking at them for several minutes, he gave up in disgust and started around the fortress walls to look for another way in.

There was a loud groaning and metallic screeching behind him.

"Huh?" Mario turned to see the two iron gates wide open. Immediately suspicious, he eyed the open gateway with a critical look.

"_That_ was just..._weird_," he said aloud as he cautiously approached the open gates. He peered into the darkened fortress interior. Not a soul was to be seen.

Hesitantly Mario stepped through the gates and into the cathedral-like main hallway of Cyanara's fortress. No sooner had he passed the gates than they swung shut behind him of their own accord, their closing boom echoing eerily through the long, high-ceilinged hall.

"Hello?" called Mario as loudly as he dared. "...Anyone here?"

The only answer was his mocking echo.

Slowly Mario began to tread down the vast stone hallway, casting his eyes about him furtively. Each step he took seemed to him to echo far too loudly in the hollow hall.

"...Maaaaariooooo..."

Mario froze.

The whispering voice called his name again.

"...Maaaaariooooo..."

"...Who's there?" he called in trepidation.

"...Cooooome..." beckoned the whisper. "Cooooome to meeeee..."

The hoarse, echoing whisper died away, blanketing the fortress in silence once more. Not a sound could be heard but Mario's breathing. He gulped and wiped his brow.

"Probably just some Boo who wants to scare me to death," he told himself aloud as if trying to convince himself of his own idea.

Mario crept on down the hall. Passing numerous closed doors, he furtively tried each knob in turn only to find them all locked.

"Looks like the place is under lockdown," Mario muttered. "Cyanara never did anything like _this_."

The next knob turned easily.

"Much better," Mario commented as he opened the door and stepped through it into another, normal-sized hallway.

The door slammed behind him.

Mario jumped and spun around to see the door he'd just passed through now shut and locked. He tugged at the knob to no avail.

"...On the other hand, maybe I should have stayed on the _other_ side of the door," he admitted to himself. "This is just _too_ weird." He looked down the long hall before him. Quickly he ran its length and tested each door in turn. Sure enough, only one would open to him.

"What is going on in this place?" Mario wondered, half-frustrated. "It's like something or some_one_ is trying to lead me somewhere by only leaving one door unlocked for me to use wherever I happen to be." Now thoroughly suspicious, Mario deliberately ignored the only open door and headed for the first door, the one that had mysteriously locked itself behind him.

"I'm not going a step further into this place until I know _exactly_ what's going on," he declared.

Suddenly Mario's body did an about-face and began walking back toward the unlocked door.

"Hey! I don't want to go in there! STOP!!" Mario frantically tried to order his limbs to stop propelling him forward, but they refused to heed his commands. Now seemingly a prisoner in his own body, Mario could only watch helplessly as his hand, contrary to his command, reached out and opened the unlocked door.

"H-Help!" cried Mario. "HELP! I can't stop! Listen, you crazy body, STOP!!!"

But his body ignored him, carrying him ever onward through a maze of hallways to an unknown destination. His soul felt a strange tug, the same drawing force he had felt when he had first laid eyes on the cloud overshadowing the fortress. He felt like a fish on a hook—unable to escape and being inevitably reeled in to his fate. And the whole time his body was mechanically pressing forward, that mysterious voice kept whispering an eerie echo.

"...Maaaaariooooo... Cooooome... Cooooome to meeeee..."

After over an hour of ceaseless hall-navigating, Mario found himself descending a wide spiral staircase, winding deep into the bedrock beneath Cyanara's fortress. A flicker of recognition crossed his face, but he could not recollect the name of the place.

At last he reached the bottom of the staircase. He gasped as his body drove him relentlessly onward.

"T-This place—this hall! So gray and dim—and those black doors at the end with half-moon handles—this can only be one place! It's— It's—"

His hand reached for the handle on one of the black double doors. Unwillingly he flung the door wide, and his body set foot in the room beyond. Mario opened his mouth and uttered two terror-stricken words.

"P-Penumbra's Tomb!"

He was shocked, horror-numbed. Never had he expected to set foot in this room again, not since Cyanara's defeat the day before.

The room was cold—numbingly cold. Its shape was an enormous semicircle; the far wall bowed outward, away from Mario. There were virtually no furnishings in this dim gray room—only an ominous black altar in the center, flanked by two upright spears, with four magical flames flickering at its corners. Mario saw none of this. His eyes were riveted on the one overpowering, awe-inspiring, terror-inducing feature of this Penumbra's Tomb.

The door.

That huge, gigantean monstrosity set into the far wall. It was easily thirty feet tall. Its presence dominated the entire chamber.

Mario, still numbed by terror, vaguely recalled the times he had visited this room and seen that door. On both previous occasions the evil Empress Cyanara, own older sister of Princess Peach, had attempted to shed _his_ blood on that central altar, presumably to awaken a mysterious yet powerful evil sealed behind that mammoth door.

Involuntarily his eyes scanned the intricate symbolism engraved on the massive door's two halves. At the top burned a flaming meteor. Immediately below that was a black circle with a white crescent inside it—the crescent moon. Along the bottom of the door was carved a roiling, heaving purple cloud, as if some vile essence were seeping from beneath the tightly-sealed door. These images, all carved on one half of the door, were mirrored on the other half; and between both halves was painted a flickering flame that licked its way up the center of the foreboding door.

Suddenly that mysterious voice whispered to Mario again, echoing in the hollow space of Penumbra's Tomb.

"...Maaaaariooooo... Yooooou have cooooome..."

"...Who are you?" Mario asked uncertainly.

"I...am the voooooice of your destinyyyyy..." answered the voice in its slow, haunting whisper. "I...am the one called Penuuuuumbraaaaa... Yooooou are the keeeeey...to unleeeeeashing my powerrrrr..."

"I'm never gonna let you out of there!" Mario shouted at the disembodied voice.

"You aaaaalready haaaaave..." replied the voice. "Loooook at the aaaaaltar..."

Finally regaining control of his own body, Mario looked at that black stone altar and caught his breath. There was a distinct red stain on its surface.

"That's—That's my—_!!_"

"Yeeeeesss... The bloooood has been proviiiiided... I...am...FREEEEE!!"

Instantly the room was plunged into impenetrable blackness, so thick and oppressive that Mario felt as if his very soul were being choked. A flash of lightning stabbed through the darkness, and Mario caught a glimpse of that mammoth door. It shivered and quaked as if being relentlessly pounded from behind. Another bolt of lightning rent the shadows, this one searing down the very center of the great door, splitting its two halves apart. The entire door began to glow dully. Then its two halves began to swing ponderously outward, groaning and shrieking like the legions of the dead. Paralyzed by terror, Mario watched transfixed as the opening doors revealed a churning black abyss, a gateway to nothingness. Straining his eyes, he caught glimpses of flickering flames beyond those doors of terror.

Then two giant red eyes appeared as if from nowhere, floating in the nothingness beyond the open doors. They seemed to bore holes in Mario's body as they fixed him with their horrifying gaze. The whispering voice spoke again, now coming clearly from the invisible creature of the red eyes.

"I am freeeee at laaaaast... Yooooou have awoken meeeee..."

"I-Impossible!!" cried Mario. "That—That CYANARA!!! SHE SET ME UP!!!"

"Cooooome..." beckoned the ominous whisper. "It is tiiiiime for you to become aaaaall you can beeeee..."

"No way am I going in there with you!" Mario retorted.

The eyes glowed hotly bright. "You are mistaaaaaken... I am the fulfiiiiilment of aaaaall your desiiiiires... In meeeee you will find truuuuue powerrrrr..."

"I don't believe you!" shot back Mario. "You're full of evil and I can tell!"

"Mistaaaaaken agaaaaain... I am not fiiiiilled with eeeeevil..." The ominous eyes pierced to Mario's very soul. "I..._AM_...the eeeeevil... In meeeee...all daaaaarkness is comprehended... I can give you aaaaanythiiiiing you waaaaant... Only cooooome..."

"I _don't_ believe you!" Mario repeated forcefully. "Evil can't give me anything but pain and misery! So enough with your bargaining—I want _nothing_ to do with you!"

"You are fooooolish...not to belieeeeeve..." The eyes narrowed at Mario. "And foooools...must needs be puniiiiished..."

A terrifying gale ripped through Penumbra's Tomb, sucking Mario toward the open door and the void beyond it. Mario fought against the force of the wind but kept being sucked in, his feet literally being dragged across the stone floor.

"Cooooome, Maaaaariooooo," beckoned the haunting whisper belonging to those wicked red eyes. "Be one with meeeee!!"

The gale tore Mario yelling from the floor and sent him whirling and twisting into the darkness beyond the door. he disappeared into the abyss. The eyes vanished, and the two halves of the door swung shut with a crash that reverberated through Penumbra's Tomb. The echoing crash died away, leaving Penumbra's Tomb cloaked in eerie silence once more. But from behind the giant door, ever so faintly coming from the endless void beyond it, there could be heard the hysteric, terror-stricken screams of Mario.

For over and hour Penumbra's Tomb remained silent and still, the giant door still shedding its ominous dull glow. Then, abruptly, Mario's screams ceased.

The twin crescent moons engraved on the door suddenly flared up with intense brightness.

Then the door slowly, dramatically began to open again, revealing the blackness beyond it once more. The two halves swung open fully.

And then, from the void of blackness once sealed behind the door, Mario stepped back into the Tomb. The door closed behind him with a resounding boom.

Slowly Mario cast his gaze about the dim, drab room, taking in his surroundings. A smile began to spread across his face—a wicked smile. And his eyes—

His eyes glowed red.

* * *

The Toad logger who had nearly flattened Mario was hard at work still, chopping away at the massive trunk of another forest giant.

"Tim-ber!" he sang out as his towering prize began to fall, slowly at first, then faster and faster, sweeping to the ground in a rustling, crackling chorus of rushing leaves and snapping branches. It struck the forest floor with a final crunch.

Immediately the Toad was at the fallen giant's side, hacking off the larger branches and dragging them away to the hefty pile of such branches he had taken from the other trees he had cut that day. Once the trunk was robbed of its protruding arms, the logger began cutting another tree.

Slowly, methodically, he chipped away at the wood with his ax, making the chips fly. He snatched a glance at the sun between strokes of the ax. Nearly noon. This tree would be his last before lunch.

Opening his mouth to cry his warning of "Tim-ber!", he caught sight of Mario coming down the trail—and the tree was falling straight toward him!

"Mario, LOOK OUT!!" he screamed frantically, but the plumber paid no attention to him and kept right on down the trail. The Toad covered his eyes in fright, not wanting to see Mario smashed to a pulp beneath the mammoth trunk. The falling oak fell faster...faster...

The Toad, shivering in fright, peeked through his fingers to see what had become of Mario. To his utter amazement, Mario was standing directly in the center of a jagged hole in the middle of the trunk, picking splinters out of his hat. The trunk had literally been smashed through upon impacting Mario's head. The Toad uncovered his eyes and gaped at the invincible plumber in astonishment.

Suddenly Mario leaped out of the hole his head had smashed in the trunk and seized the Toad by the throat, lifting him off the ground with one hand. The logger choked for breath and clawed at Mario's hand, trying desperately to loosen the stranglehold.

"Where is the Empress?" demanded Mario in a rasping whisper.

"I—ack!" choked the Toad as his face turned red. "I—don't know—who you're talking about!"

Mario's eyes blazed a wicked red. Looking about, he spied a short broken limb protruding from a nearby tree. He gritted his teeth and breathed a hideous rasping sound into his captive's face, then turned and impaled him on the broken branch, the pointed end piercing completely through his stomach and out the front of his body.

The Toad screamed as he was punctured by the dead limb, struggled for a moment, then sagged forward, blood dripping from his fatal stomach wound. He hung dead, impaled on the branch.

Mario bared his teeth at his victim and continued down the trail toward Peach's castle. Every now and then he would shake and shiver as if insane, and his eyes would radiate that haunting red glow. Then the spasm would subside, and he would again take off running down the trail with the deranged purpose of a madman.

"Find...the Empress..." he rasped again as he tore down the trail like a berserker. It was the one thought that pervaded his twisted mind. He raced along the forest path, eyes blazing with an uncontrollable rage.

It was one o'clock that afternoon when Mario broke out of the forest and set his foot on the open road. His wild gaze turned south to the Princess's castle. He stared at the distant structure with fiery red eyes. An inhuman hiss of contempt escaped his clenched teeth. Again he sped off, still heading for the castle.

Another hour of travel down the dusty main road in the midday heat of August, and Mario stood at the castle gates. one of the Toad guards atop the wall looked down from his vantage point, saw Mario standing before the gates, and called down to the guards below to open the massive doors. In minutes the huge oak-and-iron gates swung wide to admit the famous Mario. One of the gatekeepers advanced toward Mario with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Mario, it's good to see you back safe and—"

The guard's head snapped back under the force of Mario's vicious blow, and he flew backward, crumpling lifelessly to the grassy turf. His neck had been broken.

The other gatekeepers drew their swords as Mario advanced through the gates.

"Halt!" one cried.

"Mario or not, you're not going anywhere!" challenged another.

Mario looked at his four opponents, his crazed eyes gleaming red again. A grotesque, evil smile contorted his features, and he fired four fireballs at the guards, setting each one ablaze. He raced past the burning, screaming guards and up to the door of the main castle building. A single powerful punch smashed the double doors open.

Princess Peach, sitting on her throne, heard the front doors splintering open. She started up from her throne at the sound, her breath catching in her throat.

One of the royal guards burst into the throne room. "Your Highness," he called urgently, "it's Mario! He's attacking the castle!"

"WHAT?!" cried Peach in disbelief. "It _can't_ be!"

"It's him! We can't stop him—he's way too strong for us! You must hide!"

Peach flew past the desperate Toad and out of the throne room, turning right upon exiting the room and rushing down the red-carpeted hall.

"I'm not going to hide," she panted as she ran. "I've hid too many times. It's time I stepped up to the plate and batted for once!"

She reached an intricately engraved oak door which she flung open, revealing her pink-and-blue-themed private chambers. Rushing inside, she slammed the door shut and sped to her closet. The Princess pushed back the closet's sliding door, reached inside, and withdrew a beautiful rainbow-striped robe. She gazed at it for a moment and laid her hand on the soft fabric.

"Mom..."

Without hesitation Peach discarded her pink dress for the rainbow robe. "If the guards can't stop Mario, then I have to—and if using Mom's power is the only way to do it, then so be it!" She threw the door open again and raced out into the hall.

In the front lobby Mario was busy mopping up what little was left of the royal guard. The last thirty guards, swords drawn, rushed Mario from all sides. The plumber madman stood in his place wearing that twisted grin as his enemies closed in on him. Down came the thirty sharp blades on Mario's head and shoulders.

The swords connected with Mario spot-on but did no damage. Shocked at Mario's seeming invincibility, the guards backed away a little, prepared to defend themselves.

Mario's eyes gleamed red again, and he rushed one of the guards, seizing him and literally tearing him in half. Hurling the dead Toad aside, the deranged Mario attacked the next guard. This Toad attempted to stop Mario with a sword thrust to the heart, but the blade's point bounced right off him. The next instant, the unfortunate guard found himself smashed to a bloody pulp against the lobby wall.

Mario turned and seized the next Toad by the neck, crushing the breath out of him with a superhuman grip. The guard squirmed and clawed at Mario, desperately trying to breathe, but soon succumbed to the lack of air and went limp. Mario hurled him aside as he had the first victim and fastened his hungry eyes on the next guard. The Toad gulped and backed away.

"Mario! STOP!!"

Mario swung around to see the rainbow-robed Princess Peach standing atop the foyer balcony. His eyes blazed red, and he hissed at her.

"What do you think you're doing, Mario?! How _dare_ you hurt my people!" accused the Princess.

"Where...is the Empress?" demanded Mario in his loud, rasping whisper.

Peach caught her breath. "Y-You're not yourself, are you!?"

"Where...is she?" Mario repeated, eyes glowing red.

Peach straddled the stairs to the balcony, a determination lighting her eyes. "Mario, no matter what's wrong with you, I will _not_ allow you to hurt my subjects! If you want to get at them, you'll have to go through _me_ first!!"

With a hideous screech Mario rushed at the Princess, tearing up the stairs toward her, hands outstretched to seize her in his powerful grip. Peach put out one hand toward her rampaging fiancé and shot a tremendous beam of white light from her palm directly into Mario's chest. The beam blew Mario backward off the steps to a crash landing on the floor of the lobby. He staggered to his feet, apparently stunned.

"Rainbow...Guardian..." he seethed, his eyes burning red with hatred. "I...hate...the Guardians! You...are one of them!"

"I am," Peach responded hotly. "I am a Rainbow Guardian, one of the protectors of the power of the rainbow. And using the power given me by my mother, I will _not_ permit you to kill my subjects!"

"I...am...Penumbra," hissed Mario's loud whisper of a voice, "...the Guardians'...mortal...enemy... You...will perish...at my hand!"

Before Mario could rush her again, Peach struck him down with a light beam to the head. Mario was knocked off his feet and cracked his head on the tiled floor of the lobby. This time he did not rise.

Peach, the tears starting to flow now, flew down the balcony steps and knelt beside the unconscious Mario. She laid her hands on him and shook him gently. "Mario...I'm sorry..." She wiped her tears away, yet they kept falling fast. "I-I didn't want to hurt you, but you gave me no choice. Oh, Mario..." She bent down and kissed his cheek, weeping over her bitter deed.

"Take him to the infirmary...and quarantine him," she said through her tears to the remaining guards. "Something's wrong with him, and until I know what it is..." Peach bit her lip. The guards quickly heaved Mario to their shoulders and carried him up the steps and through the door on the balcony's far right, where the infirmary was located. Peach remained on her knees in the lobby, crying for Mario and for the hurt she had done him.

The limp Mario was taken to the quarantine block of the infirmary and straitjacketed, then sealed inside a padded-wall confinement cell. Peach looked through the steel-barred glass in the door at her beloved, now a prisoner in what could pass for an insane asylum. She swallowed and brushed away more tears as she kept her silent vigil at the window.

The Princess stood thus at the door of Mario's cell for nearly two hours. Her feet and legs ached from standing so long, but she did not feel the discomfort. Her whole mind and soul were in the cell with Mario. She was totally focused on the unconscious man beyond the padded steel door.

"Oh, Mario..." she sobbed over and over, quietly, to herself. She choked back more tears and continued her watch.


	3. War

The place was chill, ominous. The walls of the cavernous room were washed with black, and painted flames were licking up the stone walls. Monstrous pillars of clear crystal supported the lofty domed ceiling, on which was emblazoned a large crescent moon. A gray sacrificial altar stood against the far wall, and above it was painted a life-sized replica of that mammoth door―the door in Penumbra's Tomb.

A lone woman stood at the foot of the altar, gazing up at the door painting. Her skin was fair and smooth, her eyes and hair black as ravens. Form-fitting was the rule for her outfit―both ruby-red top and sheer black skirt followed her curvature almost exactly. A lavender miniskirt was fitted over the ankle-length black skirt―somewhat of a strange fashion statement, but it fit her person well. Her entire wardrobe oozed a cold, evil beauty that would make even the strongest warrior shiver. Her bearing was icily regal and imposing.

The woman gazed at the painting for a moment more; then lowering her gaze to the altar, she knelt before it, taking a silver bracelet from her right wrist and placing the object on the altar.

The bracelet glittered in the ambient light. Around its band were engraved the phases of the moon.

"Ruler of the twilight," spoke the woman aloud, "I have returned to renew my covenant with you. See, before your ever-watchful eye I have placed the token of our pact Bestow on me once more, with renewed strength, the spell that gives never-ending life to mortal man. Seal me with the Seal of Fatalis, the fountain of immortality. Empower me with your darkness. And may the shadows of the twilight ever fall across this world!"

The bracelet began to gleam with a silvery-white radiance, casting a cold light not unlike moonlight over the woman's face.

"Preteran, Symthanato, Unihypno," uttered the woman in a rhythmic chant, the bracelet's moonbeams gleaming off her face, "Dynive, Trideca, Cisanima―Fatalis!"

The bracelet exploded into brilliance, bathing the woman in silver light. Her black hair began to stream out behind her as if blown by the wind as a strong force emanated from the silver band. Shutting her eyes, the woman lifted her hands to the sky as she knelt there and laughed a chilling, evil laugh.

"Again the Seal of Fatalis has been renewed!" she laughed as she felt the bracelet's powerful force flowing into her. "Again I am no longer mortal, but immortal, as the gods themselves! Aha ha ha ha ha ha!!"

The force pouring from the bracelet faded away, and the light ceased to flow from it. The woman stood, and, taking up her silver band again, replaced it on her right wrist over her arm-length white glove. She turned to leave the mysterious room.

"...Cyanaaaaaraaaaa..."

Cyanara stopped short and looked back at the altar.

"...It is I...Penuuuuumbraaaaa..."

An evil smile came over the woman's lips, and she turned about and returned to the altar. "I am here."

"...Yeeeeesss..." breathed the whispering voice. "I am freeeee...thanks to yooooou..."

"It would seem my little trap worked to perfection," Cyanara congratulated herself. "Mario has walked right into my hands. All I have to do now―" she curled her fingers into claws and clasped her hands together―"is grab him." Her steely black eyes gleamed in anticipation.

"Fiiiiirst...you must retrieve the thirteeeeen sacred aaaaartifacts..." whispered the voice.

Cyanara frowned. "Explain yourself."

"Those...saaaaacred objects...hidden in this kingdom..." Penumbra's voice was still faint. "At this momeeeeent...I inhabit the body of Mariooooo... But he is strooooong... I cannot force him to submiiiiit to me much longer... Only with the power of the aaaaartifacts...can I overcome him...and show forth my fuuuuull powerrrrr..."

"Then I will get them," answered Cyanara. "Rest assured, I _will_ find them." Her expression hardened. "I'll see Mario lying dead at my feet yet!"

"You already possess...one of the aaaaartifacts..."

"Where?"

"That bracelet...on your right wriiiiist..."

Cyanara again removed the solid silver band and turned it in her hand. "This?"

"Yeeeeesss..." breathed the voice. "The Khensu Mooooonseal... It will guiiiiide you to the remaaaaaining objects..."

Cyanara replaced the Moonseal on her wrist. "I will bring the artifacts to Penumbra's Tomb when I have them all."

Turning, Empress Cyanara strode determinedly down the aisle of towering crystal pillars, skirt swishing in the deathly silence of the cavernous room. She reached the door. Looking back, she stole a last glimpse of the door replica and the altar before it, then opened the door and slipped out of the room.

* * *

Mario lay limp where he had been deposited on the padded floor of the quarantine cell. He had been unconscious for two hours. Peach still stood at the door, watching over him, the tears still dropping from her pretty eyes.

Suddenly Mario sat up with the desperate gasp of a drowning man, his eyes wild and frightened. He scooted backward and huddled against the cushioned wall. His breath came in heaving gasps of fright.

Peach pressed her face to the glass, watching him fearfully.

Slowly Mario gained control of himself. His breathing slowed until it was somewhat normal. He tried to move his arms but could not. Looking down, he saw the straitjacket that kept his arms pinned to his body. He stared at the encumbering restraint.

"Wh...What...I-I'm..."

He saw the padded walls, floor and ceiling and nearly fainted from shock. "I-I...What's going on? Why am I...here?!"

Peach reached for the keypad to enter the code that would open the door. The guard beside her arrested her hand. "Your Highness, he's dangerous! We can't allow you to go in there!"

"Let me in," she ordered peremptorily, "and lock the door behind me. "If he's dangerous, then only I will be hurt."

The guard hesitated.

"Do it!" Peach cried.

Reluctantly the guard entered the unlocking code, and Peach opened the door and stepped into the cell. The guard shut and locked the door behind her.

"...Mario? Is...Is it really you?" Peach asked timidly.

Mario stared up at his princess from his place on the floor, half comprehending that she was really there. "...Peach," he croaked, "what...what's going on? This room―this jacket―" He wrenched his arms but could not free them. His gaze returned to Peach's face. "Why am I here?!"

Peach knelt beside him and caressed his cheek. "Mario," she began quietly, "something's wrong with you. You've been―" She choked back the tears and tried again. "You've―" It was no use. She broke down and wept.

Mario watched her silently, himself in a sort of shocked stupor. "...Peach," he said at last, "the last thing I remember is being sucked through that big door in Penumbra's Tomb." His voice was despairing, desperate for answers. "What did I _do?_"

"The―the castle guards―almost fifty of them are dead," Peach choked out. "And you―" She could go no further.

"You're saying―_I_ killed them?" gasped Mario.

Peach sobbed and nodded.

Mario's gut wrenched. He felt sick. Clenching his teeth, he hung his head and wept with Peach. The two cried together in hushed silence for a few minutes.

At length Mario raised his tear-stained face and looked at Peach. "Did...Did I say anything to you...when...when I..."

Peach looked up at him. "Yes," she answered brokenly. "You said―you said you were Penumbra."

"Penumbra?" Mario was thoroughly puzzled. Ever so slowly the truth began to dawn on his face―the realization of what had happened to him.

"Peach," he said quietly, staring into space, "do you remember what Cyanara told us about that door? She said that the ultimate evil slept behind it. I was the key to awakening it."

"But she would have needed your blood on that altar to open that door," Peach countered, frowning.

"...She did."

Peach's face registered shock.

"...I don't know how, but she did," Mario confessed. "She also said that that evil would make me...make me half good and half evil, leave me unable to control my own body. The two halves would war inside me―and eventually the dark half would win out."

"Mario..." Peach breathed fearfully. "You...You think...??"

"It's inside me, Peach," Mario answered bitterly. "That evil is in me. There's no other way I could have done what I did."

"Oh, _Mario!_" Peach threw her arms around him and wept. Mario, his arms still fitted inside the straitjacket, could only sit back and shut his eyes in despair, letting Peach embrace him.

"Can you...let me out of this thing?" he requested at last, nodding at the straitjacket.

Peach had him unbound in seconds. Mario rose to his feet in the white, padded cell and reached out to the Princess, who placed her hand in his.

"I hope this doesn't change anything between us," he said hopefully.

Peach smiled at him through her tears. "Mario, nothing will ever change that. I still love you, and I'll do anything I can to help you through this."

"Thanks," Mario replied gratefully.

Peach drew Mario to the door and signaled for the guard to open it. When he had done as ordered, the Princess led Mario out of the quarantine cell. The guard stepped back and drew his sword.

"Put that away," commanded Peach. "He's OK now."

Reluctantly the guard resheathed his blade, eyeing Mari warily. Peach and Mario left the infirmary behind and set a course for the castle courtyard. Soon the two emerged from the building into the wide, stone-paved garden courtyard, surrounded by the castle building on all sides, the clear blue sky shining down from above.

Peach led Mario to one of the stone benches beside the fountain in the courtyard's center. "Sit down," she invited him in accompaniment with the music of the fountain, patting the spot beside her.

"I see you're wearing your rainbow robe again," Mario observed as he took his seat beside Peach. "Any special reason?"

"Well...I..." Peach dropped her eyes. "I had to use my powers to stop you from killing everyone. I-I didn't want to hurt you but I had to do _something_." She looked up inquisitively. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"I don't feel a thing," Mario replied. "No pain at all."

"Good," Peach sighed in relief.

"Your mother knew what she was doing when she gave you her power," Mario remarked.

"If she hadn't done it when she did," Peach agreed, "Cyanara would have beaten us all yesterday."

"And you didn't even want the power of the Eighth Guardian when it was given to you," Mario chided gently.

Peach smiled. "Oh, stop it," she laughed. "I know I was unsure of myself at first, but now I see why Mom did it. It was to save me."

Absent-mindedly Peach reached beneath her robe and withdrew a shimmering disc made of black crystal, about a foot in diameter. She turned it over slowly in her hands, letting the sun play off its polished surface.

"The Twilight Disc," commented Mario.

"Mm-hm," Peach responded, still gazing at the black disc. "The one Mom entrusted to me." She was silent for a moment. "Remember the other Rainbow Guardians?"

"How could I forget them? They _only_ saved our lives," Mario replied with a grin. "Seems like an eternity since we saw them last, even though it was only yesterday." He smiled at the recollection. "I still remember the way Ruby wowed me with her mind-reading power. It always was a little uncomfortable having her around, knowing she was probably sorting through your thoughts."

"Don't forget Amber," Peach added.

"She always was your favorite, huh?"

Peach nodded. "Always warm and friendly."

"_Warm_ as in her powers of solar fire?" Mario punned. They both laughed.

"And Citrine, with her electricity powers," added Peach.

"And Emerald, with her teleporting ability," interposed Mario.

"And the Aquamarine, the ice wielder."

And the energy-bending Sapphire."

"And Amethyst," Peach sighed with a smile. "She was probably the most memorable of the eight. So loving and kind."

"I thought the Guardians were defined by their colors and powers, not their personalities," Mario reminded her. "Amethyst was the transformation artist."

"I know, but I guess I'm closer to the girls than most others are," Peach replied. "Let's not leave out the last Guardian."

"Diamond," both said together.

"Mother was such an ideal Guardian," Peach reminisced. "I still wish I were more like her, so kind and sweet and generous."

"And she passed her power and title of Eighth Guardian down to you," Mario finished, "so that makes you the Eighth Guardian now."

The two sat side by side in silence, remembering all of their friends and the adventures they had had together over the past several weeks.

"Oh! Mario, I didn't tell you, did I?" Peach laid a hand on his arm. "The annual MarioKart races are back on!"

"You're kidding!" Mario exclaimed. "I thought they'd been canceled this year due to Cyanara's attacks!"

"Well, now that she's gone, we don't have to worry about her, do we?" Peach reminded him. "And have I ever got a surprise for you!"

"Then let's hear it!" pressed Mario.

Peach turned away and feigned aloofness. "Well, if I showed you now, it wouldn't be much of a surprise later, would it?"

"Am I gonna have to _make_ you tell?" threatened Mario in jest.

"Let's see you try," Peach dared him.

No sooner had Peach given her "invitation" than Mario scooped her up in his arms as if she were a china doll. "Put me down, Mario!" she protested laughingly.

"Nope," Mario replied as he sprang to the stone ledge surrounding the fountain pool. "I'm gonna drop you in if you don't tell me!"

"Is that any way to treat a princess?" demanded Peach with a playful smile. She raised an eyebrow.

"Three..." Mario began counting down.

"You wouldn't," Peach told him.

"Two..."

"Mario..." warned Peach.

"One..."

Peach's eyes widened. "Oh...MARIO!!"

"Zero!"

The instant Mario released Peach from her cradle in his arms, she locked her arms around his neck, her momentum dragging both herself and Mario to a splash landing in the fountain pool. Mario, not having expected a wetting, surfaced quickly and gasped oxygen into his lungs, wiping the water from his eyes. His brown hair was plastered to his head and streaming with water.

Peach, likewise soaked, stood up on the bottom, her head well above the waterline. She brushed her dripping locks out of her eyes and waded through the waist-deep water to Mario, who was blinking the last drops from his eyes.

"See what a mess you've made of me!" she scolded him, pretending to be angry. "Just look at my robe! It's soaking wet!"

"If you ask me," Mario told her over the rush of the fountain, "you never looked better."

"Oh, you little scamp! Get over here!" Peach reached for Mario's ear, but he ducked and began wading away as fast as he could. Peach pursued him, determined to get him and teach him a lesson for his sauciness.

No sooner did Mario climb dripping out of the fountain than Toadsworth came bursting through the courtyard doors. Peach ducked underwater and surface behind the fountain spray, out of sight of her elderly steward. It was obvious Toadsworth was not in his best mood.

"Master Mario!" he exploded, waving his cane in protest. "There is to be absolutely NO swimming in the courtyard fountain! Is that clear?"

"Sure, Toadsworth, but I wasn't really swimming. It was an accident," Mario apologized lamely.

"Don't give me some feeble excuse! I saw you with my own eyes! Now where is the Princess?"

Mario, still making puddles at a psychopathic rate, looked about the courtyard. Peach was nowhere to be seen.

"...I'm not sure," he answered slowly.

Toadsworth humphed and stalked out of the courtyard.

"Why does he have to interrupt everything?" rang out Peach's sweet voice as she came out from behind the fountain and climbed out of the pool to dry. "We were just having fun again. It's a pity he had to interrupt." She seated herself on the ledge around the pool.

Mario plunked his soaked self down beside Peach on the ledge. "Actually, he was a lifesaver this time," he joked. "I was being chased by an angry princess!"

Peach slapped his arm lightly. "Nonsense," she returned playfully. She turned Mario's face to hers and held him with her eyes. "You were being chased by a sweet princess who thinks the world of you." Her lips moved toward Mario's.

"Stop this INSTANT!"

Peach and Mario started and turned to see Toadsworth standing in the door of the courtyard.

"Cease this inappropriate conduct this INSTANT!" repeated the indignant steward. "Your Highness, of all the unmannerly, indecent, indecorous, scandalous―"

Peach kissed Mario anyway and stood up. "That's enough, Toadsworth. You were looking for me?"

Toadsworth suddenly remembered his mission. "Yes, yes, of course! There's a terrible disturbance in the kingdom!"

"Disturbance?" Peach frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It's a riot! A rampage! Nothing short of war, Your Highness! An attack on our fair land!"

"War?!" Peach exclaimed. "No, not now! Come on, Mario, we've got to find out what's going on!" She grabbed Mario's hand and flew with him back into the castle.

"Why are we going to your rooms?" Mario questioned breathlessly, noting the path they were taking through the halls. "Shouldn't we have a conference with the head staff and find out what's happening?"

"We're _going_ to find out," Peach told him shortly as she flung open her door and sat him down on her bed. Her hand scooped a pink remote from her dresser drawer, and she pressed the power button. Immediately the wide mirror over the dresser flipped itself over to reveal a forty-inch plasma TV, already on and broadcasting the news. The image was incredibly clear.

Mario nearly fell off the bed. "Wow! Since when have you had THAT?!"

"Not too long, and you'd better believe Toadsworth doesn't know about this," Peach told him in confidential tones, seating herself in her favorite red velvet chair beside the bed. "It's a direct link to MKNN's live feed."

The two sat in silence, watching the Toad news anchor. The rotating golden mushroom logo in the corner of the screen denoted MKNN, the Mushroom Kingdom News Network.

"Just an hour ago we received word that the city of Glitzville, known the world over for its championship fighting tournaments, is under attack from an unknown terrorist group," spluttered the anchor, obviously not in the proper newscasting mood. His face was plainly worried. "Rockets and other explosives are pummeling the flying city as we speak. The Mushroom Kingdom Army is completely stalemated."

Peach gasped as the screen switched scenes to show the charred, cratered city of Glitzville, its colorful banners and shops almost completely demolished. "This is horrible!" she cried. "Why would _anyone_ do this to the kingdom?!"

Now the camera flicked to the on-scene reporter, who was anxiously pushing her blond braids out of her eyes. "News reporter Vera T., live from Glitzville!" she hollered into her microphone over the noise of exploding rockets. "The famous city of Glitzville lies in ruins, as you can see behind me!" She frantically gestured at the smoking debris behind her. "For over an hour now we've been pounded by missiles from an as-yet-unconfirmed source. Our forces are at a standstill. We can't fight an enemy we can't see!"

Abruptly a shadow fell over the city. The reporter looked up and gasped, "Oh, my―_!!_ Look at _that!!_"

The camera panned upward to reveal a gigantic black saucer floating over Glitzville, firing round after round of highly explosive warheads at the city. Emblazoned on the saucer's underbelly was a huge red flag with a white X cutting it diagonally.

Now it was Mario's turn to gasp. "That's Sir Grodus's flagship! This is the work of his X-Naut troops!"

"I-It seems the enemy has made its appearance!" screamed Vera T. as the camera, still focused on the monstrous UFO in the skies, captured hundreds of red-suited, white-masked X-Nauts rappelling down from the saucer toward the city below. There was more screaming as the citizens of Glitzville fled for their lives off-camera.

The camera returned to Vera T.'s scared face. "Princess Peach!" she cried hysterically. "If you're watching this, know that the people of Glitzville will fight to the bitter end; but we need help, and FAST! This is a losing battle!" Vera T. screamed and dove to one side as a missile exploded almost on top of her. She scrambled out of the rubble, now smudged and streaked with dust.

"Those poor souls!" Peach murmured, clasping her hands. Her eyes watered. "So frightened..."

"That's it, we're outta here! Pack it up―we're going home!" cried Vera to her camera crew. "MKNN reporter Vera T., live from Glitz―"

A fist socked Vera T.'s skull, knocking her out cold and dropping her to the rubble under foot. The camera followed her fall, then quickly banked up to look directly at Vera's attacker. Peach caught her breath as she saw a woman in a red form-fitting top and sheer black skirt bend over to pick up Vera's microphone. The assailant straightened up, tossing her straight black hair to the back of her neck. She smiled an icy smile at the camera.

"Cyanara," Peach breathed, stunned.

"Greetings to the Mushroom Kingdom," intoned Cyanara. "I declare myself your new ruler. The destruction you see here in Glitzville is only a sampling of what will happen throughout the land if Princess Peach does not turn over her throne to me."

"Ludicrous!" cried Mario. "Why, that monster of a woman! She's crazy if she thinks we'll give in!"

"I know you're watching this, Peach," Cyanara continued smoothly. "You've got two weeks to step down."

"Never!" Peach shot at the screen.

"I tried being nice about it, Peach. I tried it all―negotiation, bargaining, condescension, coercion, even threats and petty torture. But you wouldn't listen." Cyanara narrowed her eyes at the camera. "So if I can't get what is rightfully mine through fair play―I'll take it by force."

Cyanara riveted the viewers with an icy stare. "Breaking news," she said with a false smile. She pulled a fist back and aimed it at the camera.

"This kingdom is MINE!!"

Cyanara's fist connected with the camera lens, and the TV screen went blank.


	4. The Trick

Peach sat stunned in her chair, staring at the blank static on the plasma screen. Her hand went to her mouth. "She's back," she whispered shakily. "Cyanara's really back. It's her."

She tried to think, but her mental state mirrored the condition of the television―absolutely meaningless. "...What to do?" she finally managed. "What _can_ I do? If I step down, Cyanara will enslave my people. If I don't―" She choked up and did not finish the thought.

"We've got two weeks to find a way out of this, at least," Mario consoled her. "For now we can play the waiting game. Or rather, _you_ can. I'm going to Glitzville." He stood up from Peach's bed.

Peach was instantly on her feet, blocking his path. "No, Mario! I can't let you do that!"

"Peach, please," Mario requested, "let me go."

"No!" she cried passionately. "I'm not going to let you go running off into danger any more! I've already let you go once today, and look what's happened to you because of it! No, I won't let you go!"

Mario sat back down with a sigh. "Peach, when will you ever understand?" he asked quietly. "You care about your people―I know you do. I care too. They need help." He met her eyes with an intensity. "Who's going to help them?"

Peach had no answer.

"Peach, keeping me here won't protect me," Mario reasoned. "If I don't stop the X-Naut invasion now, eventually they'll have us surrounded. Where will we run then?"

Again Peach was silent, contemplating the question.

"You can't run from the problem, Peach. The only way to beat it is to face it."

Peach sighed. "I know you're right, Mario," she admitted, "but...I don't know what could happen to you! What if―What if Penumbra kills you? What if Cyanara does? What if―What if I never see you again?!"

Mario stood and drew Peach into his arms. He held her tightly for a moment. "Peach," he whispered into her ear, "I'll be back. I promise."

"Mario," Peach sobbed quietly as she hugged him, "I don't want you to go! You―You're all I have to keep this place safe!"

Mario released the Princess from his arms and held her at arm's length. "Peach," he said seriously, "it's the castle or Glitzville. It's you or your people. And I know from past experience that you _always_ place your people's safety above your own. I've lost count of the times you've put your life on the line to keep them safe. Now I'm the one doing the life-risking. I―"

"I won't let you go alone, then!" exclaimed Peach. "I'm coming with you!"

"No!" Mario's face betrayed alarm. "No, I can't let you come, Peach! Grodus and his X-Nauts are there, and so is Cyanara. I could never forgive myself if I lost you again!"

Peach hung her head and sobbed. Mario caressed her cheek.

"Peach, this kingdom needs you―"

"This kingdom needs _you!_" she shot back, crying. "How many times would the Mushroom Kingdom have been overrun if it weren't for you?! We need you, Mario!" Peach looked up through her tears and into Mario's eyes. "_I_ need you!"

Mario was resolute. "Peach, I want you to stay here. As a Rainbow Guardian you can protect the castle without my help. If you can beat _me_, you can beat anything."

Peach gave a little smile through her tears.

Gently Mario tipped Peach's head up and kissed her tenderly. "I'll be back."

Reluctantly Peach allowed Mario to pass her. He exited the room, and she fell back into her favorite chair, weeping.

_Mario, I'm afraid for you!_ her mind cried. _Don't go! Please!!_

As Mario sped through the halls toward the castle entrance, he felt a twinge of remorse. Why _had_ he refused to let Peach come? Now that he thought about it more thoroughly, there really wasn't much reason why she shouldn't have come.

_She's perfectly able to protect herself as a Guardian,_ he mused as he dashed out the castle gates. _Maybe I should―no, it's better if she stays. She needs to guard the castle, and besides, I don't want her putting herself in danger unnecessarily._

His mind made, he picked up his pace and was soon well on his way down the main road. "The only way to Glitzville is the Cheep Blimp, and that's only found in Rogueport," he said aloud as he rushed down the road away from the castle. "Look out, thieves and gangsters, here comes Mario!"

After over an hour of brisk running, Mario reached his ill-reputed destination. The minute he stepped inside the city walls a red-suited Bandit nearly bowled him over. "Whoops, sorry, sucker!" the Bandit yelled over his shoulder, vanishing into an alley.

"Next time, find someone else's pocket to pick! Mine are empty!" Mario hollered after the fleeing Bandit. He started forward down the cobbled street, then caught himself. "...Empty? Great, I forgot to bring cash with me! How in the world am I supposed to buy a blimp ticket without money?"

Suddenly a thought struck him, and he snapped his fingers. "Don Pianta. If anyone can help me, it's him. No, wait, he retired as head of the Pianta Syndicate a while back. That would mean―oh, brother, I forgot. His son-in-law Frankie is running the show now. That brainless Pianta couldn't keep track of his own wedding ring. So now what do I do?"

As Mario stood musing in the street, two Piantas in black dress suits stuck their heads out of the alley behind him.

"You hear dat?" whispered one.

"He bad-moufin' da boss!" replied the other. "Let's teach dat bum a lesson!"

"Wait, ain't dat―dat Mario guy what done helped da old boss out so much?"

"Don't mattah. We gots our duty to da new boss now. Get 'im!"

Mario scratched his head. "Maybe I'll track down Don Pianta anyway and see what he can do," he concluded. "He usually hangs around the casino. I guess I'll check the place first." He started down the street again, intending to stop in at the Rogueport Casino and Arcade.

"Gotcha!" shouted the Piantas as they tackled Mario from behind, grinding his chin into the cobblestones. One held the plumber down while the other laid a few knocks on his skull.

"Oof! Ow! Ow! Ungh!" Mario yelled as his assailants banged him up. "What do you think you're doing?! Get off me!"

"Ain't NOBODY gonna wipe da name of da boss in da mud!!" roared the first Pianta, sitting on Mario's back a little harder. Mario yelled in pain as he felt his spine crackle under the enormous Pianta's weight.

A final crack to the side of his head made him see stars. Dazed, he dimly felt his hands being tied behind his back.

"We gonna take dis losah in ta see da boss," he heard vaguely.

"Nah, let's just lock 'im up. He deserves it fo' talkin' bad."

More conversation drifted through Mario's dazed mind. "Da boss would wanna hear dis guy's talk first! Mebbe give 'im somefin' ta REALLY get mad at!"

"Just toss 'im in da slammah!"

"No!"

"But da boss wants us ta watch fo' more o' dose X-goons! He's busy interrogatin' dat one we's already caught!"

_What?_ Mario thought groggily. _They caught an X-Naut? I gotta―_

The first Pianta's fist smashed onto Mario's cap, hammering his jaw into the street, and everything went black.

About fifteen minutes later he awoke to find himself being dragged into a drab stone building. He remained limp in his captors' powerful grip, not letting on that he was again conscious. From beneath half-closed lids he peered out at his surroundings and saw dozens of barred steel cells lining countless hallways.

_Prison,_ he thought with a mental groan. _Just great. A lot of good I can do locked in a jail cell while Glitzville is razed by the X-Nauts. How am I gonna get out of _here?

The burly Piantas stopped in front of an open cell and pitched Mario inside. "Youse kin just rot theah fo' a while while we gets da boss in heah to let youse have it," offered the first gangster snidely. He slammed the barred gate down, sealing Mario inside the cell.

"An' he ain't gonna be nice ta a loudmouf like youse," added the second. The two Piantas the walked back out of the building, leaving Mario lying behind the bars in a heap.

As soon as he heard their footsteps fade away, Mario got to his feet and walked to the edge of his dank cell. He grasped the steel bars that held him prisoner and shook them to test their strength.

"Solid," he sighed. "No way could I break those. Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here for a while."

He sat down heavily on the dirty mattress provided for him to sleep on. Looking up, he noticed a small barred window cut into the stone wall. He gazed out the window at the colorful passersby for a while, the brightness of outside more appealing to his eyes than the bland gray dimness of his cell.

Suddenly he caught sight of a gray cloak in the midst of the colorful crowd on the street. Something about that cloak sparked recognition in his mind, and he jumped to his feet and rushed to the window, staring at that cloak, that gray hooded cloak that looked so familiar. The cloak's wearer was petite, youthful, a female by her blue skirt, but her back was toward him and her face was not visible. Then the girl in gray turned, and from under the shadows of her hood Mario could see two fearful eyes staring directly at him. She passed out of sight, and Mario returned to his seat on the mattress, puzzled.

"...She knew I was here," he murmured, puzzling over the mysterious girl in gray. "I'm sure I've seen her before, but I can't remember... Was that really _her?_"

Mario's mind went back to an incident just three days past. He and Peach had been scaling Star Mountain together. A stone slab had shifted beneath Peach and sent her plummeting toward her death nearly a thousand feet below, but someone had caught her and saved her from her fate. Someone in a gray cloak. Someone with those same fearful, vacillating eyes.

He returned to the present from his world of thought. "That's the same girl who saved Peach―I'm sure it is," he mused. "But―what is she doing here in Rogueport?"

Abruptly loud voices echoed from the prison's entryway, interrupting Mario's musings. He could make out three voices. Two he recognized as belonging to his Pianta captors. But the third―? Mario listened closely as the voices drew nearer.

"...yeah, Boss, he done spouted off at da mouf 'bout you," offered the first Pianta.

"Called youse all sortsa nasty names," added the second.

_Liars,_ Mario thought with a frustrated sigh.

"Take me to 'im!" barked the unfamiliar third voice. "NOBODY is gonna insult Big Frankie and live ta tell about it!"

"Dis way, Boss," replied the first Pianta hastily, and his footsteps sped up.

"Here comes 'the boss,'" Mario said under his breath. "Guess I'd better brace myself for a tongue-lashing...or worse."

Just before coming into view, the voices' owners stopped, their shadows falling on the floor in front of Mario's cell. The two shadows on either side were standard-sized Piantas, but the center image was bigger, stronger, more muscular than average.

_That is _some_ build he's got there!_ Mario thought, somewhat impressed.

"I know youse is in dere, you little street rat," rumbled the unidentified voice. "I'm comin' fo' youse, so prepare ta meet yo' Makah!" The hulking owner of the voice stepped out where Mario could see him. Instantly Mario recognized the big blue Pianta.

"Frankie?!"

"DOAN YOUSE 'FRANKIE' ME!" roared Frankie. "We ain't on no first-name basis heah!"

"Don't you recognize me?" Mario pleaded.

Frankie stopped his ranting and peered closely at the plumber. His eyes widened.

"Mario?!"

The big Pianta smiled hugely. "If it ain't Mario!" he exclaimed. "I nevah thought I'd be seein' _youse_ again! Boys, get Mario outta that cage!" The two underdogs quickly obeyed, opening the barred gate and releasing Mario from the cell.

"Man, Frankie, you sure have beefed up since I saw you last!" Mario chuckled at his old friend. "Must be _some_ training regimen you've got!"

Frankie laughed. "'Big Frankie' beats plain ol' 'Frankie' any day, 'specially when I gotta deal with liars like dese two." His smile vanished, and he glared at his two grunts. They ran like scared rabbits.

"Actually, they weren't completely lying," Mario confessed. "I did make a comment―to myself―about the time you lost your own wedding ring. I guess that's not supposed to be...public knowledge?"

"Forget it," ordered Frankie with a dismissing wave of his hand. "That was Francesca losin' _her_ ring, anyway, not me losin' mine. I kin still see the look on my girl's face when she foun' out it was gone." He chuckled. "Come one over ta my office, Mario. I got coffee on, and youse kin tell me why youse is heah."

The big Pianta led the way out of the prison house and out into the street, heading west down the cobbled avenue. The pedestrians, seeing Mario with the head executive of the famous (or infamous) Pianta Syndicate, quickly made way for the two celebrities to pass.

As the two passed a narrow alley, Mario felt eyes boring into the back of his head. He turned and saw that same gray-cloaked girl watching him with fearful, hunted eyes from the shadows of the alley behind him.

"What's da mattah, Mario?" asked Frankie, noticing Mario's halt.

"That girl," Mario replied, pointing, but when he looked again, she was gone.

Frankie followed Mario's finger with his eyes. He, too, saw no one in the alley. "Just another one o' them pesky Bandits," he concluded, starting down the street again. Mario followed, but he kept looking back at the alley. He felt that he was being watched, and the feeling was not at all comfortable.

At last Mario and Frankie reached the far west end of Rogueport. They entered a shop by the town wall. The owner, seeing Frankie, immediately unlocked the back door of her shop, and Mario and his executive friend entered it. They were now in a narrow triangular courtyard against the city wall. A stone staircase led up to the second floor of the building adjacent to the shop, and the two climbed this staircase and entered Frankie's plush second-story office.

"Sit down an' relax," he invited as he plunked himself down behind his mahogany desk and shut off the coffee maker. Mario seated himself in front of the desk, and Frankie handed him a steaming cup of coffee.

Mario dragged his sole across the thick red carpet. "I'm here about the attack on Glitzville," he began, leaving his coffee untouched. "I heard you caught an X-Naut...? he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, mah boys nabbed 'im." Frankie took a long swig of his coffee. "He's locked up in back o' my office."

"Could I talk to him?"

In answer, Frankie stood up and motioned for Mario to follow him. He went to the window at the back of the office and reached under the sash.

"Betcha ya never thought dis was a door, did ya?" Frankie said with price as a cleverly-disguised door with the window at its center swung open, revealing a dimly-lit back room almost entirely bare of furnishings. A single hard-backed chair stood in the center of the room, and tied to it was an X-Naut soldier. He stared at Mario as Frankie and the plumber entered the room.

"Dat's him," Frankie said briefly.

Mario faced the captured trooper. "Why are you attacking Glitzville?"

"The Great One will rule all," droned the X-Naut.

"Why are you attacking Glitzville?!" demanded Mario.

"The Great One will rule all."

"Tell me!" Mario exclaimed hotly.

The X-Naut repeated his pointless statement.

"Dat's all he's ever said ta us," Frankie explained. "We can't figure out what he's tryin' ta say."

"I know good and well what he's saying," Mario replied grimly. "'The Great One' is another title for Empress Cyanara, the one who made the news camera black out on MKNN. She's trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Take ovah?! Den we's gonna fight her ta da very end! Nobody takes ovah da Pianta Syndicate wit'out my say-so!" Frankie grabbed Mario. "What kin I do to help youse fight her off?"

"I need a blimp ticket so I can get to Glitzville!"

"Screw da blimp! Too slow!" Frankie ran back into his office and returned moments later. "My boys is on da roof wit' my personal choppah. Dey'll fly ya ta Glitzville pronto!"

"Y-Your private helicopter?! But Frankie―"

"Go, Mario!" insisted Frankie. "I know you―youse kin handle dat mess up dere! So hurry up and mop da floor wit' dat Great One!"

Mario hastily shook Frankie's hand and raced back into the office. Frankie followed and shut the door tightly, leaving the X-Naut prisoner sealed inside the darkened room.

Slowly, painfully, the X-Naut twisted his arm around beneath the coils of rope binding him to the chair, straining to get his hand into his pocket. At last, with a final twist and another pained wince, he succeeded. His gloved hand closed on a tiny object. He pushed a button on that object and, craning his neck down, groaned a message into his collar.

"X-Naut One calling base. X-Naut One calling base. Mission accomplished...Mario's on his way."

Mario scrambled onto the roof of the office as the chopper's engines began to warm up. He leaned into the powerful wind swept up by the whirling propeller blades and made a dash for the copter's side door. A Pianta in a black suit and sunglasses threw the door open from inside, and Mario leaped in and slammed the door shut, muffling the screaming engines a little.

"Glitzville, and fast!" Mario shouted to the pilot over the noise.

The identically-dressed Pianta at the controls nodded and began to lift the helicopter off the roof. The straining propeller blades bit into the air, slowly but surely carrying the craft aloft. At last they were clear of the roof, and the pilot swung the chopper's nose around toward Glitzville and applied forward power. The chopper responded by starting forward, accelerating toward the flying city some miles away.

They flew over the unbroken ocean for several minutes. "I always thought it was kinda dumb to build a flying city over the ocean," Mario said to himself, the engines drowning out the words. "What happens if it falls out of the sky? Everyone in the place would drown!"

At last the chopper came within sight of Glitzville. Flying up to the edge of the city, the chopper landed there, close to the long drop into the sea below. Mario jumped out.

"We's gonna stay heah so youse kin get back ta Rogueport. Da boss told us to," offered the pilot.

"Thanks. I hope I won't be long!" Mario turned and dashed away through the rubble of the nearly-flattened city, keeping a sharp eye out for the enemy―those X-Naut invaders. It wasn't long before he found them.

Or, rather, _they_ found _him_.

"Attention all units!" barked an Elite X-Naut into his radio. "Mario's been spotted in the east district! Neutralize threat! Repeat, neutralize threat!" He shoved his radio back into the pocket of his black-and-red uniform and cried to his troops, "After him! Don't let him get away!"

Mario whirled around and dashed in among the remains of the residential sector. Many of the houses, though blackened and roofless, were still standing, affording him countless hiding places. He waited, breathless and silent, in one of the gutted homes, expecting his pursuers to follow.

They did not. The Elite X-Naut got on his radio again and contacted the giant black UFO hovering over the city.

"Huh?" That's weird. They're not chasing me!" Mario wondered under his breath.

There was a distinct mechanical noise overhead, as if someone were opening the world's biggest garage door. Mario looked up at the X-Naut mothership and gulped when he saw a gigantic laser weapon embedded in the saucer's underbelly. Its firing end was already glowing yellow as it charged up for a shot at Mario's hiding place.

"YIKES!" Mario leaped from his hiding place just moments before the broken-down house was vaporized by a huge yellow beam from the mothership. Again and again the mammoth weapon fired its giant beams at the frantically-dodging plumber below, laying a blanket of destruction over the already-ruined area.

"Negative, target intact!" the Elite X-Naut reported at length. "Cease fire―we'll corner him first!" The X-Naut officer looked up from his radio. "Huh? Where'd he go?"

Mario was running as fast as he could to get away from his pursuers. He saw the remains of the Glitz Pit battle arena ahead and ran toward them, intending to take cover in one of the steel-walled storage rooms.

The sliding glass doors had been shattered to bits, allowing Mario to step right into the arena's once-elegant lobby. The polished tile was blackened and cratered, the velvet rugs charred, the walls shot through. THe door to the arena was blocked by timbers from the demolished balcony above it. It was deathly silent.

Suddenly from the back halls burst dozens of X-Nauts, all shouting and yelling at the surprised Mario. The plumber turned to run but found his escape cut off by more X-Nauts outside running toward the Glitz Pit. He went into his battle stance, ready for his enemies.

X-Nauts went flying everywhere as Mario began dishing out knuckle sandwiches to all comers. He leaped onto the heads of his enemies, stomping across the room in the domino effect and leaving a trail of squashed X-Nauts behind him

"Got to get into the arena!" he said through his teeth as he bashed his way through a solid wall of X-Nauts. "There's no room to fight in here!"

Mario waded through his attackers and into the back hallway, which circled the main arena and came back out on the other side of the lobby. A solid mass of X-Nauts greeted him as he fought his way into the hall. A tremendous shout went up from the legion, and they rushed Mario as one.

Mario readied his fists, but he wasn't expecting his foes to leap up on top of him, which was exactly what they did. The plumber was knocked flat by a horde of flying X-Nauts, and he felt blows being rained down on his prone form. He desperately flailed his fists about, swatting the angry soldiers off him. Getting his footing, he charged straight ahead through the mass of enemies toward the arena doors far down on the left.

An X-Naut leaped onto Mario's back and wrapped his arms around his neck. Mario gagged as his Adam's apple was crushed, and he reached back and slugged his pesky hitchhiker in the head, sending him flying.

More X-Nauts took the cue, leaping at Mario and clinging to whatever part of him they happened to hit―arms, legs, feet, neck, chest, even his head. Mario had X-Nauts covering him from head to toe.

"GET OFF ME!!" he roared at his attackers, hurling himself face-first into the wall. The X-Nauts attached to his frontside were stunned by the crushing blow and fell off him. Mario repeated the process by smashing his back against the wall as well, ridding himself of the rest of his clingy assailants.

Now free of his attackers, Mario raced to the arena doors and threw them open. He stepped into the huge stadium. The place was empty. The hundreds and hundreds of bleacher seats were vacant. The centrel fighting platform was conspicuously bare.

The remaining X-Nauts in the hall immediately clustered around the doors and pushed them shut behind Mario, locking him inside the arena. He turned, surprised, but was too late to stop them.

"O...K, looks like I'm wanted in here," Mario said to himself. "What have they got in store for me this time?" He moved hesitantly forward, cautiously mounting the steps up to the battle platform. Gingerly he set foot on the platform, half-expecting something to jump out and attack him. Nothing happened. He started to breathe a sigh of relief, then caught himself.

"...Wait a minute," he said under his breath. "Something's not right here. This place wasn't even _touched_ by the rocket bombardment. The whole arena is intact, but the front lobby was demolished. Something's fishy..."

Suddenly the platform began to rumble beneath his feet. He back up to the edge as he saw the center of the platform sinking into the basement of the Glitz Pit. A minute of suspenseful waiting seemed an eternity to Mario. Then, up from the basement, riding atop the platform center, rose a huge robot, a box with accordion-like arms and legs. A glass dome atop its body served as a head. The main body was yellow with a large blue _X_ emblazoned across its chest. Its arms terminated in long antennas.

"Whoa," Mario breathed, staring at the metal beast.

A familiar horned purple face appeared inside the glass canopy. "Looks like the plumber decided to drop in on me after all! Buh huh huh huh huh!"

"I know that laugh," Mario muttered. He raised his voice.

"Lord Crump!!"

Crump grinned from the cockpit of his robot. "Yeah, it's me! The one and only! Buh huh huh! I'm here to shock you into submission to Empress Cyanara!" The robot lurched threateningly toward Mario. "Behold the might of Magnus von Grapple version 7.9863!"

"Your robots' names get more lame with every repetition," Mario replied with a roll of his eyes. "Why don't you just send that heap of scrap back to the junkyard, where it belongs?"

"Stun guns, FIRE!" bellowed the X-Naut second-in-command. Magnus von Grapple aimed its antennas at Mario and shot twin bolts of electricity into his body. The shock knocked Mario over and left him stunned for a few seconds.

"Buh huh huh huh! Yeah, eat that! ELECTRO CANNON!!" The chest of the robot opened up, revealing a deadly-lookig blaster. The next instant the cannon fired a huge ball of electricity directly at Mario. The still-dazed plumber managed to roll out of the way just in time, and the electricity sphere disintegrated harmlessly upon impacting the platform. Mario scrambled to his feet, ready for the next attack.

"C'mon, you can't beat this baby!" taunted Crump. "Give it to 'im, Magnus! MAGNUS MAGNET!!"

Suddenly Mario felt his feet being dragged along the platform toward Magnus. "H-Hey! What gives?" he yelled as he attempted to fight the suction that was drawing him toward his foe.

"Pull him in! Pull him in!" chanted Crump in glee. "Buh huh huh huh huh!"

"No―you―don't!" Mario said through his teeth, straining to stay in place. "Take this!" He hurled a few fireballs at the robot's armor, but they bounced off without having an effect.

"Heh, this baby's fireproof!" chuckled Lord Crump from his cockpit seat. "This thing was built just to fight you! Nothin' you've got will work! NOTHIN'! BUH HUH HUH HUH HUH!!!"

"Then how about some ice?" Mario hurled ice balls rather than fireballs, but Crump zapped them out of mid-air.

"Magnus Magnet, FULL POWER!!" bellowed Crump as he shoved the magnetism lever to its highest setting. Again Mario found himself being dragged across the battle platform, only faster this time. He dug in his heels but could not resist the magnetism that was sucking him toward Magnus von Grapple's elecrically-charged zappers. Crump laughed. "Buh huh huh! I got you now, Mario! No escape for you!"

Mario set his jaw grimly and allowed himself to be pulled in. Just as Magnus's zappers were about to shock him silly he leaped forward and collided face-first with the robot's torso, his momentum knocking it flat on its back. Crump's head smashed through the top of the glass canopy. The magnetic field shut off, and Magnus von Grapple v.7.9863 lay inactive on the Glitz Pit battle platform.

Cautiously Mario got to his feet atop the fallen machine. He looked down at Lord Crump, halfway through the broken glass dome, bloodied body silent and still.

"He's dead..." Mario felt an inexplicable heart-wrench despite the fact that Crump had been his enemy. "I...I wasn't trying to kill him..."

Suddenly he heard a faint voice from inside the cockpit. "...come in, X-Naut Black! Magnus von Grapple's signal was terminated. Give explanation!"

Mario pondered for a moment, then hopped down to Crump, lugged his body out of the cockpit, and crawled into the cramped cockpit of Magnus von Grapple. He squeezed himself into the seat―since the robot was on its back, Mario had to lie on the seat back with his knees in the air―and looked for the radio.

The black box to his left squawked again. "Come in, X-Naut Black!"

Mario reached over and pushed the call button. "X-Naut Black here. Uh...Magnus kinds dumped himself onto his back and shut down when he hit the floor. I'm working on getting him back on his feet. Over."

"Huh?" asked the radio voice, puzzled. "Lord Crump? You're sounding...weird...kinda like Mario, almost..."

Mairo thought fast. "Uh...Buh huh huh huh!" he said in his best imitation of Lord Crump's pathetically-insane laugh.

"That sounds more like you, Lord Crump, dude...uh, sir. Hurry up and get Magnus working―Mario could show up in there any second!"

"Don't go givin' me orders, soldier!" barked Mario in his Crump impression. "I'm doin' just fine. Mario's no match for my mean machine!"

"Yeah, dude―uh, sir―he's toast this time for sure! You and Magnus are unbeatable!"

Mario grunted and shut off the radio, then convulsed with laughter. "I can't believe those idiots actually fell for it! Now, if I can just get this thing working again―"

His foot inadvertently pushed a lever marked _Activate_.

The next thing Mario knew, Magnus von Grapple was hauling itself to its metal feet with surprising speed, nearly pitching Mario forward through the already-broken cockpit canopy.

"Wh-Whoa!!" exclaimed Mario when the robot was upright and again motionless. "Guess I'd better buckle my seat belt. This thing moves fast!"

Mario looked over and saw the shoulder belt near his left shoulder. He reached over and grasped the belt to pull it down across his chest. But―well, Mario wasn't exactly watching where his arms were in the cramped cockpit, and when he pulled the belt down across his chest, his elbow hit the control panel and pushed a button marked _Boosters_.

Instantly Magnus von Grapple began to rumble like a rocket on the launchpad, shaking Mario until his teeth were ready to fly in all directions. Mario's hand, jostled about by the runbling and roaring, barely managed to snap the shoulder strap into its socket, thus buckling Mario in.

"W-W-W-W-Whooooaaa!" Mario cried as he was bounced about in the confines of the cockpit. "How do you turn this thing off?!"

With a final violent rumble Magnus belched flames from the soles of its metal feet and lifted off the battle platform like a space shuttle, heading straight for the high domed ceiling of the arena. Mario looked up through the jagged hole in the glass canopy and gulped.

"Where's the steering?!" Mario seized a joystick on the right-hand side of the control panel. "Here's hoping!" The roof was rushing toward him dangerously fast. He jerked the stick in all directions without affecting Magnus's trajectory, but as he smashed the joystick to all sides, he noticed Magnus's arms moving with his input.

"Whooooooooooooaaaaaa!!!" Mario hauled back on the joystick, pointing Magnus's arms straight up at the ceiling, and hammered his fist down on the _Fire_ button.

Magnus von Grapple's zappers blasted a hole in the ceiling just moments before the robot barreled through the roof and out into the open sky above Glitzville. Mario sank back in his seat and heaved a sigh of relief.

"That was TOO close," he quavered, a relieved smile breaking onto his face. "Now how _do_you steer this thing?"

Magnus continued rocketing ever higher as Mario perused the control panel. Finding a button labeled _Manual Override_, the plumber pushed it and found that Magnus's entire body now responded to the motion of the joystick. He pushed another button marked _Hover_ and halted the robot's climb into the sky.

As he hovered high above the flying city, Mario reviewed his options. "Either I ditch this thing, or I land and take on the X-Nauts in the city, or I try to get into the flagship. This thing's a shame to discard since it's still usable, and if I land, the flagship's laser cannon will blow me to kingdom come. Looks like I'm headed for the flagship." He flicked the radio on and assumed his Lord Crump voice.

"X-Naut Black to base! This here war machine took some damage whe he fell over. I'm comin' in for repairs."

"Wh-Whuh?" spluttered the voice on the other end. "B-But Lord Crump, the flagship isn't equipped to repair Magnus von Grapple! There was too much heavy equipment needed, and we had to leave it all back at the moon base so this ship could actually fly!"

"I _said_ I'm comin' in―open the hatch, loser! I don't care if you _glue_ this thing back together. I'm not goin' to fight Mario in some beat-up jalopy! I'm gonna WOW him dead with this tough cookie!"

"Y-Yes, dude, uh, sir, right away, dude!"

Mario shut off the radio and chuckled to himself as he flew Magnus straight toward the huge black X-Naut saucer. As he neared it, he saw a large panel on the upper surface slide back to reveal a large hangar within. Mario piloted his "borrowed" X-Naut machine down through the entrance and touched down flawlessly in the empty hangar.

"Now how am I supposed to get out of this thing?" Mario asked himself after shutting Magnus down. He reviewed the control panel. "I don't suppose it would be the big red button marked _Eject_, would it?"

Mario shrugged and pushed the button. The next thing he knew the glass canopy had popped off the cockpit and his seat was flying straight up toward the ceiling. His head came within millimeters of the lofty steel ceiling; then he came crashing down onto the floor, still buckled into the seat, and lay there on his back, stunned for a moment.

"Ouch." He unbuckled his seat belt and slid his body along the seat back until he could roll over and get to his feet. His steps echoed with hollow clanks as he moved across the deserted hangar to the door he'd spied off to his right.

Reaching the door, he pressed the green button next to it, and the door panel slid back into the wall, allowing Mario to pass through. He did so, and it swished shut quietly behind him.

The gray steel hall was empty. The only sound was the dull hum of the X-Naut saucer's engines. Mario turned right and ran along the hall, looking for another door. There it was. He quickly passed through it and into another gray hallway.

Suddenly he froze as a network of lasers blocked his path. He turned to backtrack, but another security laser barrier fenced him in from behind.

"Trapped!" he exclaimed. "If I trip those beams, I'll probably set off the alarm system! Now what?"

Abruptly a panel in the ceiling slid back, and a security scanner lowered itself into view. A female voice spoke from the camera-like machine.

_*Please remain still. Security scan commencing.*_

A wide red laser fanned out from the scanner and swept back and forth over Mario several times, then shut off.

_*Identification positive. Please proceed.*_

The security scanner retreated into the ceiling, and the latticework of lasers in front of Mario shut down, allowing him to go forward but not backward. The red light above the door at the far end of the hall turned green, signaling that the door was now unlocked.

"'Identification positive'―I don't like the sound of that," Mario muttered as he moved forward toward the door. "I've been expected, it seems." He halted before the sliding door. "There's only one person who would have the foresight to rig up a system like that. And that―"

He smacked the door-open button, sliding the door panel open and revealing a large circular room surrounded by a crackling green energy dome. A solitary figure stood in the room's center. He wore a black helmet that housed a powerful computer, rigged to increase his intelligence to unbelievable levels. His black robe hung almost to the floor, and it was open in front to reveal the X-Naut insignia―a white _X_ on a red field. A gold staff topped with a blue orb was loosely held in his gloved hands.

Mario stepped into the room. "―That would have to be Grodus."

"_Sir_ Grodus to you, Mario." The X-Naut commander smiled cynically, eyes sparkling behind his thick goggles. "I apologize for skipping the introductory monologue, but my time is short. I'll try to make this brief." He stepped toward Mario. "You have been deceived! This entire operation was nothing but a ploy to get you away from the castle while Her Imperial Highness Cyanara renews her acquaintance with Princess Peach!"

Mario whirled around to escape the room, but the door slid shut in his face. The green light over the door turned red, locking Mario inside. He turned on Grodus.

"Y-You―you dirty X-Naut!!"

"Gaack ack ack!" cackled Grodus maniacally. "Yes, it's true! This whole setup was a trick―and you walked right into it like the fool you are! Gaack ack ack ack ack!!"

Mario desperately hurled himself against the door, but it refused to budge.

"The door is impenetrable," Grodus informed him cruelly, "and the energy field will kill you instantly should you attempt to pass through it. You are trapped―trapped while Empress Cyanara has her way with Princess Peach!"

"YOU EVIL MONSTER!!!" Mario shouted at his enemy. He felt a raging anger burning in his soul. "Of all the dirty tricks! I WILL rescue Peach from that _devil_ of a woman, and if you insist on getting in the way―then prepare to be SMASHED!" He doubled his fists threateningly.

"Very well, Mario. But even if you kill me, you cannot stop the Empress. She will rule over all!" he cackled. "Gaack ack ack! Now―you DIE!!"


	5. Life and Death

Sir Grodus raised his staff and fired a wave of blue flames at Mario. The plumber rolled to one side, sprang to his feet, and retaliated with several fireballs. Grodus batted them out of mid-air one by one with his staff.

"Such childish attacks!" Grodus said in dismissal. "Fight like the hero you claim to be!"

Mario, already angered, clenched his teeth and charged. "I'll teach you to trick me into leaving Peach unprotected!"

Grodus sidestepped Mario's berserker charge and stuck his staff out to trip him. Mario did not see the staff and went sprawling onto his face. He rolled onto his back as Grodus aproached him.

"I've got you now, Mario!" laughed Grodus as he stood over Mario and aimed his staff at the plumber's head. "There is no escape. Give yourself to the Empress and I will spare you!"

"Me, serve the woman who tried to kill both me _and_ Peach?" Mario grunted from the floor. "Sorry, but I'm not about to!"

With that he kicked out with both heels and caught Grodus squarely in the midriff, knocking the wind out of the X-Naut leader. Sir Grodus grunted and stumbled backward, clutching at his stomach as he desperately tried to breathe. Mario leaped to his feet and wrenched the staff from Grodus's hands, hurling it into the green energy dome that encased the battle arena. The staff was instantly vaporized upon striking the field.

Grodus regained his breath. "Even I did not foresee this," he admitted, "but it does not matter. I still have the power to destroy you!" He snapped his fingers, and four small green _X_-shaped creatures flew out from beneath his black robe and floated around him. A green spherical force field surrounded him.

"Gaack ack ack! My Grodus X's make me invincible!" cackled the maniacal genius.

"Seen it before, Grodus—not impressed," Mario retorted as he incinerated all four satellites with his fireballs. Grodus's shield disintegrated as the X's burnt to ashes, and Mario took advantage of his foe's vulnerability by landing a blow on his computer helmet, cracking the glass pane on its front.

"Not so fast, Mario!" Four more Grodus X's popped out from under Grodus's robe and reactivated the shield. This time, before Mario could torch them, they shot out one at a time in quick succession and hit Mario like a living machine gun, hammering him backward toward the deadly energy field.

"Aaaaaaah!" Mario yelled as the X's pummeled his chest, driving him backward. "Buzz off!" He flailed his fists at his tiny attackers but could not strike them. He was being forced backward—backward—ever closer to that fatal field.

"Gaack ack ack ack ack ack!" cackled Grodus. "As I said—there is no escape! Once you are out of the way, the Empress will have nothing to stop her. She will have her revenge on both you _and_ Princess Peach! Gaack ack ack!"

"Spare me the pre-death monologue, would you?" Mario grunted as he fought against the relentless barrage of Grodus X's. "'Cause I'd appreciate _not_ hearing your maniacal voice!"

Still Mario struggled against the Grodus X's' machine-gun rapidity that left him unable to block or counterattack. He was only five feet from the deadly energy field. Four feet. Three. Two. One...

Just as he was about to hit the field, Mario flung himself to the side, allowing his tiny attackers to shoot past him and strike the field themselves, instantly vaporizing on impact. Grodus stared at Mario in shock. He'd been so sure of winning.

"You're the only one with a supercomputer for a brain, Grodus," Mario acknowledged as he got to his feet and strode up to the X-Naut leader, "but I'm still good enough to outsmart you. Now hand over the remote that unlocks the door. I know you've got it—you wouldn't lock yourself in a room without having an escape route. You're not _that_ stupid."

"Never," Grodus replied stolidly, bringing his gloved hand around to strike Mario down.

Mario parried the blow and pounced on the X-Naut commander, wrestling him to the steel floor. He probed his pockets as he held him pinned. His fingers detected a metal object in Grodus's inner robe pocket, and he snatched it out. "I knew you had it," he said triumphantly, holding up the remote. Then he looked at it, and his face fell. Grodus's face broke into a slow smile, the sort of smile that says "I win in the end anyway."

"A numeric keypad?! You mean there's a—" Mario turned on Grodus. "Tell me the passcode! NOW!"

"That I will never do," Grodus replied, still smiling. "And don't try to shut off the energy field. It is the vent for the excess energy of this craft's nuclear reactors. If you turn the field off, the reactors will overheat and explode, destroying both you _and_ all of Glitzville. The hero wouldn't want to be responsible for killing innocent civilians, would he?"

"TELL ME THE PASSCODE!!" roared Mario, gripping Grodus by the neck and shoving his face into his enemy's. "Tell me or I'll KILL you!!"

"The great hero is angry. How inappropriate," Grodus remarked dryly.

"I SAID TELL ME!!!" screamed Mario, growing desperate. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

"Go ahead. I would rather die rather than disobey my ruler, rather than betray Her Imperial Highness. If you kill me, you lose the only one who knows the code. But if you wish to do so—then do it."

Mario picked Grodus up by his shirt front, seething with rage. "You dirty X-Naut," he breathed through clenched teeth. "_No one_ tricks me into leaving Peach to her doom! You are SO going to DIE!!!"

With that Mario hurled Grodus forward like a rag doll. The X-Naut commander tumbled through the air with a bloodcurdling scream, struck the energy field, and disintegrated in a brilliant white flash.

Mario heaved a few deep breaths and gradually calmed down. He turned his attention to the remote in his hand, poring over the numeric keypad and trying his best to think of what the door-unlocking code could be. He puckered his forehead.

"Hmmm... Seems I recall that Cyanara always liked the number thirteen..." Another thought struck him, and he groaned. "I don't even know how many digits are in the code, let alone which numbers they are. Well...here goes nothing..." Gingerly he pushed a number.

_1_

Mario waited for an alarm to signal an incorrect digit, but nothing happened. After a few seconds he felt confident enough to continue.

_3_

Again no alarms, no sirens, no flashing lights. All was quiet.

_1_

Still nothing happened. Mario was sweating by now, and his finger trembled as he pressed the fourth key.

_3_

The red light above the exit turned green, signaling that the door was now unlocked.

Mario breathed a sigh of relief. "Looks like Cyanara still hasn't changed her door codes since last time I broke into her fortress," he said with a relieved smile. He started toward the door.

Suddenly the green energy field surrounding the room vanished, and a red light began to flash high over Mario's head. Sirens began wailing throughout the ship as the computer announced a grave problem.

_*Warning. System override. Reactor venting has been shut down. Engine overheat. Engine overheat.*_

"Oh, that is just LAME!" Mario cried in frustration. "Grodus, you rigged that to happen, didn't you?!" He dashed through the unlocked door and out into the main hallway again.

The halls were flashing red with warning lights. "This place is gonna blow! I gotta get outta here!" Mario raced off to the left, searching for an exit, a docking bay, a maintenance hatch, _anything_ that would let him escape the doomed craft. Finding a staircase, he dashed up it, emerging in another long hall. He picked up his pace even more and sped along, still searching. Most of the doors were locked. A few were not, and Mario rapidly investigated each in turn. No exits. He continued his mad dash through the X-Naut saucer.

Dead end. Mario frantically turned and ran back the way he'd come. He was desperate now. On a fleeting impulse he seized his stolen remote and punched in _1313_ again. Instantly every door in the hall unlocked, all signal lights turning green. But as they unlocked, the computer's voice rang through the ship again.

_*Red alert. Red alert. Nuclear safety protocols overridden. Radiation containment no longer effective. Engine temperatures reaching critical levels.*_

"Curse you, Grodus!" shouted Mario as he tested the newly-unlocked doors. "You just love making me sweat, don't you?!" He found another stairwell beyond another door and scaled it three steps at a time, running for dear life. The hall above curved left, then right again. Mario came to a fork in the hall and went right, blindly hoping to find an exit.

A door loomed at the end of the wall. Its red light indicated that it was locked. Mario gulped and entered _1313_ for the third time. The door unlocked, and the computer issued a final warning.

_*Code red. Reactor meltdown. Nuclear explosion imminent. Evacuate personnel immediately.*_

Mario tore the door open and was nearly sucked out of the saucer as the oustide wind ripped past him. He looked down at the ocean over a mile below. Even the clouds were beneath him. He swallowed hard.

"It's either jump or be burnt toast. Which one?"

_*Code red. Reactor meltdown. Nuclear explosion imminent -*_

"I vote jump!" Mario cried and hurled himself out of the saucer, falling spread-eagle toward the water far below. "Geronimoooooo!!"

Mario fell past the flying city of Glitzville like a meteor, skydiving to an imminent fatal splashdown in the ocean, still far below him. He rocketed down through the clouds and continued on toward the sea.

Suddenly he heard the noise of helicopter blades. He turned his head to see the Pianta Syndicate chopper lowering itself down beside him, falling just a bit faster than he was. The side door was open, and the Pianta in the back seat had his hand outstretched toward Mario. The pilot gave the plumber a grin and a thumbs-up.

"We comin' ta getcha, Mario! Grab on!" yelled the Pianta in the back seat over the roar of wind and engine. The copter edged closer to Mario, who reached out to take hold of his rescuer's hand.

"C'mon, reach fo' it!" shouted the Pianta, straining to grasp Mario's hand. "Closah! Git us closah to 'im!" The pilot nudged the chopper still closer to Mario.

Mario's fingertips brushed his rescuer's hand. "Come on! We don't have much time left before—" He gestured at the fast-approaching water below.

Again the chopper edged a little closer, and Mario managed to seize the Pianta's hand. He gripped his rescuer like a vise.

"Yeah, dat's it! Now _pull!_" The Pianta heaved Mario into the chopper's back seat and slammed the door shut, cutting off the wind. "He's in! Pull up, PULL UP!!"

"Hang on back dere, ever'body! Dis is gonna be rough!" The pilot hauled back on the control stick, straining to lift the helicopter's nose before they impacted the waves. The altimeter was spinning madly, registering an incredibly fast drop rate. Slowly the copter's nose tipped upward. The drop rate slowed, but altitude was still decreasing fast.

"We might be ditchin' in da drink!" hollered the pilot. "C'mon, baby, pull up, PULL UP!!" He jammed the throttle all the way forward, applying maximum power to the gyrating rotor blades. Two thousand feet until impact. One thousand. Five hundred. Mario could see the choppy ocean surface from his window. Two hundred feet remaining. One hundred. Fifty. Ten. The chopper was nearly stopped. Should the copter's skids be caught by the rough ocean waves it would be dragged into the water, drowning its occupants. Spray washed over the bird's metal hull. Mario gulped.

The skids halted just inches from the tips of the waves. Slowly, painfully, the machine lifted itself clear of the choppy seas. Mario's stomach gradually sank down out of his throat and back into his abdomen where it belonged.

*end music*

The pilot started to chuckle. Mario and the other Pianta joined in, and soon the chopper was rocking with relieved laughter.

"Woooooh, BABY!" hollered the pilot Pianta jubilantly. "Man, if dat weren't da funniest, craziest, most incredible thing I evah SEEN!!"

"Hey, mebbe we could try dat again, wit' _you_ as da one on da outside!" laughed the other Pianta to the pilot.

"No thanks!" Mario hastened to say with a grin. "I've had quite enough James Bond for today!"

Suddenly a tremendous explosion boomed out above them. They pressed their faces to the windows to see a colossal fireball where Grodus's flagship had once been, the blast engulfing the city of Glitzville entirely. Mario's smile died, and he watched with hushed breath as the once-glorious flying city, completely engulfed in nuclear flames, came plummeting through the clouds and smashed into the ocean some distance from them with another large explosion. A billow of black smoke rolled up from the burning city before it sank beneath the waves, quenching the fires forever.

The helicopter was quiet except for the engine.

"There goes Glitzville," Mario said at last while still staring out the copter's window, his quiet voice almost lost in the engine's roar. "And I couldn't do anything to save it..."

The Pianta beside him put a hand on his shoulder. "It's gonna be OK, Mario. We gonna take youse back ta Rogueport now."

"Yeah, da boss done made youse a V.I.P.—a Very Impo'tant Plumbah," chuckled the pilot. "Now we's gonna get youse back ta see da boss."

"No, wait!" Mario turned to the pilot. "I need you to take me to the Princess's castle immediately! She's in grave danger!"

"WHAAA?!" exclaimed the pilot. "Princess Peach am in dainjah? Hold da phone—we'll be right dere! Buckle in an' hang on!" He shoved the copter into forward gear and jammed the throttle wide open again. The helicopter lurched forward and accelerated toward the Princess castle, miles away.

Five minutes later they were hovering over the castle's front yard, inside the protective walls. The pilot lowered the chopper to within two feet of the ground, and Mario shoved the door open.

"Thanks for the lift, guys!" he hollered before leaping to the ground. The pilot gave him another thumbs-up and lifted off again, heading back to Rogueport. Mario made for the main castle building. Reaching the front door, he seized the handles and pulled. The doors refused to budge.

"Locked," he said bitterly. "Looks like Cyanara's not making this easy for me—if she's here." He rushed around to the side entrance and tried it. It too was locked.

"One more shot at getting inside, short of climbing onto the roof," Mario said grimly. "Hopefully Cyanara doesn't know about _this_ entrance. The only problem with using it is I get wet."

So saying, he leaped into the castle moat and dived underwater. A black iron door loomed below him, set into the stone wall of the castle and level with the bottom of the moat. Still holding his breath, Mario sank down to the door and tried it. It opened easily, revealing a submerged room within the castle. Mario swam inside and surfaced, gasping air into his lungs.

"I'm in," he said aloud, voice echoing in the empty room as he seized the edge of the pool and hauled himself out onto dry ground. "Now to find Cyanara, if she really is here."

Mario dashed away from the pool. A second, smaller pool greeted him, and he dived in without hesitation. Rather than being a simple reservoir, as the first was, this pool was actually one end of a secret underwater passage that led almost to the heart of the castle. Mario swam like a fish through the submerged semicircular tunnel, surfacing again at the opposite end. he climbed out of the water and, dripping like a faucet, tried the door before him. The knob turned easily.

Stepping out into the castle dungeons, Mario found the passageways ankle-deep with water as usual. He dashed through the dungeons, splashing loudly with every step. Soon he reached the door that led to the main level.

He leaped up the stairs three at a time and emerged on the main floor, behind the front lobby. As he started for the door to the lobby a scream rang through the castle.

"EEEEEEEK!! MARIOOOOOOO!!!"

"Peach!!" cried Mario and flung the door wide, racing out into the lobby. He sped up the balcony stairs and into the secondary foyer. Here he again rushed up the stairs, tearing the double doors at the top open. From behind the golden double doors across the hall he could hear Peach's cries. He hurled himself across the hallway and burst through the throne room doors to see Peach on her knees, hands chained behind her back, at the feet of the black-haired woman from MKNN's camera incident.

"Mario, help!" Peach cried when she saw her fiancee. "It's—"

The woman slapped Peach across the mouth, silencing her instantly. She turned her piercing black eyes toward Mario and smiled as she was known to do—smiled that cold, seductive smile.

"Hello, Mario." Her voice, falsely pleasant, had an icy undercurrent.

"Let her go, Cyanara," Mario demanded.

"Or what?" Cyanara spat at him. She deliberately slapped Peach again, knocking the Princess over. Peach's head struck the marble floor, and she cried out in pain.

"Stop it!" Mario cried. He took a step forward and readied his fists.

Cyanara regarded him coolly. "It's a shame Grodus couldn't keep you occupied longer than he did. The poor fool had to get himself killed. Pity."

"I didn't intend to kill him," Mario informed his enemy. "It just...happened."

"I'm sure _you_ didn't," Empress Cyanara remarked with a glint in her eye, "but the power within you _did_."

"...What did you just say?" asked Mario hoarsely.

Cyanara laughed her ridiculing laugh. "The power inside you—Penumbra—_did_ intend to kill. Death and destruction are his only purposes. The deaths of Lord Crump and Sir Grodus, the explosion of the flagship, the annihilation of Glitzville—all was part of his goal. The anger you felt, Mario—it was him." Her eyes glittered, and her smile became still more crafty. "You've lost a part of yourself already, Mario, and once my preparations are complete you will lose yourself completely to the evil within you."

"How do you know?" Mario asked, shocked. "How do you know what I did?"

"It's all on tape, Mario, every second of it," Cyanara answered, still smiling. "Your every move was recorded by security cameras. I kept my eye on you every moment you were in Glitzville. Very little escapes my notice. You should know that by now, Mario." Her voice carried a note of triumph. "I knew you'd come. Your Good Samaritan actions are quite predictable."

"You're tampering with a power too great for you!" Mario exclaimed. "I've felt Penumbra's strength. No one on this planet could possibly control him!"

"But I know something you don't," she replied, her smile still more cunning and seductive. "As always, Mario, I have the ace in the hole."

Suddenly Mario tensed, choked, and fell to his knees, straining against some unseen force. He convulsed, and his eyes glowed red for a fleeting moment before he collapsed face-first ot the floor, drained of all energy.

"MARIO!!" cried Peach.

"What... How...did you do that?" Mario groaned breathlessly, trying to regain his strength. He felt limp, numb, totally powerless to move.

Cyanara smiled again and removed the silver bracelet from her wrist, holding it up for Mario to see.

"The Khensu Moonseal, first of the thirteen sacred objects which hold Penumbra's power. With this, I can wield a small amount of control over Penumbra, rendering you powerless for a time." The Empress chuckeld wickedly. "The more artifacts I collect, the stronger Penumbra's hold on you will grow, until at last, when I possess all thirteen objects, _he_ will possess _you_—forever!" She laughed outright at Mario's helplessness. "Your days are numbered, 'hero.' And now, if you'll excuse me, I must see my little sister to the door."

"N-No! Eeeek! MARIOOOOO!!!" Peach screamed as Cyanara hauled her roughly to her feet and shoved her toward the door. "Get up! Please!"

Try as he might, Mario could not find the strength to move. He could barely lift his hand and stare weakly after Cyanara as she forced the struggling, screaming Peach out the throne room doors. A tiny glittering object pinged to the floor just before they left the room, and the golden doors shut with utter finality when they had gone, rendering the room silent once more.

Mario began to feel strength returning to his body. His eyes were focused on that tiny golden object on the floor near the door. Slowly, desperately, he crawled toward it. Painfully he reached out and grasped it in his fingers, bringing it before his face.

Peach's engagement ring sparkled in the light. A tear rolled down Mario's cheek as he gazed at the diamond ring.

"Peach..." he whispered, "I...I'm sorry!" His body shook with sobs as he lay, still weak, on the marble floor. "I couldn't...do anything...anything to help you... I'm sorry..." He brought the ring to his lips and kissed it as if in farewell, the tears streaming down his face.

His strength was nearly restored. Slowly he lifted himself to his feet, face wet with tears. He gazed sorrowfully down at the ring in his hand. Suddenly he trembled; he clenched his fist over the ring, and an inhuman cry of rage escaped his throat.

"UWAAAAAAAAGH!!! CYANARAAAAAAA!!!"

Mario shook with anger. "I swear, Cyanara, you'll pay for this! For this and every other moment of misery you've ever put us through! Someday—somehow—I WILL KILL YOU!!! I SWEAR IT!!!"

Mario suddenly cooled down somewhat. "Wait," he cautioned himself. "That's not me talking. That's—That's Penumbra speaking through me! _He's_ the killer—_I'm_ not!

"But—maybe that's what Penumbra meant by 'power,'" he realized. "The power to avenge myself, the power to do as I please with my enemies...it sounds almost tempting.

"No, wait, that can't be. Penumbra wants only destruction. Even if he allowed me to use his power for my own ends, eventually—eventually he'd turn on me...right?

"Oh, I don't know!" Mario cried in frustration. "What do I do? Unless I give way to this darkness inside me, there's no way I can ever get past Cyanara to free Peach!

"...Or is there?"

An idea began to take shape in Mario's mind. "If those thirteen artifacts Cyanara mentioned can control Penumbra's power, then maybe...just maybe...I can get them myself and keep Penumbra's power from ever being used...just maybe!"

"Funny," rasped a voice from behind him, "but I was thinking the same thing!"

Mario whirled around. Before him stood a black-cloaked figure whose face was overshadowed by his hood, so much so that his two glowing red eyes appeared to float in the midst of a thick blackness. In his rough clawed hands he grasped a black staff tipped with a purple gem. The plumber narrowed his eyes at the newcomer.

"Zaron."

"Mario." The evil specter fingered his staff and grinned grotesquely. "So we have the pleasure of meeting once again!" he rasped. "I'll thoroughly enjoy tearing your pitiful body apart bit by bit just to repay you for all the problems you've caused!"

"Don't—make—me—laugh," Mario pronounced deliberately.

"You'll regret that!" screamed Zaron. "Out of my way, imbecile! There's an artifact somewhere in this castle, and I am here to find it! So step aside or suffer!"

"The ever-cliche bad-guy monologue strikes again," Mario remarked. "Thanks for the info. I'll have to get that artifact."

"It's mine!" screeched Zaron threateningly.

"Over my dead body," Mario retorted.

"I can arrange that _very_ easily, Mario!" Zaron raised his black staff. The purple gem atop it glowed eerily. "Prepare to meet your doom!!"

A wave of blackness exploded outward from the staff, plunging the throne room into darkness. The only light available came from Zaron's gleaming eyes. Mario stared at those eyes. Those eyes...haunting and red, just like—

"Penumbra!" Mario exclaimed. "You're in this plot with him, aren't you?!"

"Of course!" Zaron rasped. "I am Penumbra's chief servant, sent to reclaim the artifacts in his omnipotent name and the name of the imperial Empress Cyanara!"

"No way am I gonna let those two devils control me!" Mario shot back. "I've beaten you before, and I'll do it again to stop you from getting that artifact!"

Mario rushed Zaron and swung his fist at his head, but Zaron parried the blow with his staff, making Mario crack his knuckles painfully against the stout rod.

"OW!!" Mario backed away, knuckles throbbing.

"That's what you get for your rashness, fool!" Zaron laughed with a rasp in his throat. "Now, Staff of Shadows, make known your power to this pathetic plumber!"

Zaron's black staff shot a bolt of red lightning at Mario, who barely dodged the attack. Another bolt hurtled from the staff, then another and another, keeping Mario dancing to avoid them. The last bolt struck Mario in the chest, hammering him backward into the throne room wall and pinning him there spread-eagle with static charge. "Gr-agh!" grunted Mario as he struggled to free himself from the electricity that held him prisoner.

"Gyah hah hah hah hah!!" cackled Zaron. "Now to finish you!"

The gem atop the Staff of Shadows glowed brightly, and the staff itself gave off a greenish light. Zaron suddenly disappeared in a whoosh of blinding blackness. When again Mario could see him, Zaron was no longer in human form. Instead he was a monstrous three-headed red dragon, with three sets of eyes that glowed wickedly red. The dragon reared back and roared a hideous screaming roar.

"You are mine now, hero!" screeched Zaron's dragon mouths in unison. "I will swallow you whole and deliver you to the Empress as planned! GYAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!"

Slowly Zaron stretched one of his dragon heads toward the helpless Mario, opening his mouth wide to show rows of razor-sharp teeth. Mario struggled fiercely but could not break away from the electric charge holding him to the wall. That gaping mouth was over him, closing, closing... He shut his eyes and turned his head, not wanting to see Zaron swallow him.


	6. The Search Begins

Zaron's dragon form seized the paralyzed Mario, ripped him from the wall, and began chewing.

"AAAAAAAGH! YAAAAAAAA!! AUUUUUUUUUGH!!!" screamed Mario as Zaron's hundreds of needle-sharp teeth stabbed into him over and over, ripping, tearing, gouging. It was almost unbearable. He writhed and screamed in agony while Zaron chewed contentedly.

"Mmmmm, tasty," rasped Zaron's dragon mouths in satisfaction. "I've waited for years to taste my prey, and the time has come at last. Mario is _mine!_ GYAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!!"

Zaron chewed on Mario for a few more minutes, listening with wicked pleasure as his victim screamed in pain. At last he grew tired of his sport, rolled Mario to the back of his mouth, and swallowed him.

Mario slid down the dragon's slimy esophagus and landed in Zaron's empty stomach. Fortunately there were no acids present to digest him. He lay limply in the cavernous belly, feeling the slimy stomach lining beneath his skin and groaning in intense pain.

"Can't...move..." Mario groaned hoarsely. "Must...get out... Must...get...artifact..."

He felt the dragon lurch and heard the sound of exploding rock. He guessed that the dragon had smashed through a wall or perhaps the ceiling of the castle and was flying somewhere, for he could now hear the rhythmic thumping of the beast's heavy wings. His own stomach began to feel sick.

After a minute of being carried through the air, Mario suddenly felt the bottom of the stomach drop away from under him, and he felt nearly weightless. The dragon was plunging earthward, creating the feeling of free fall for Mario. There was a hard thud as Mario's captor hit the ground, and Mario slammed back into the bottom of the stomach, the springy lining bouncing him like a trampoline.

More muffled crashing sounds. Zaron's dragon form was wrecking something. Then a blast of air hit Mario in the face as Zaron inhaled powerfully, and an oblong steel object fell on top of the plumber. Zaron had swallowed it.

Painfully Mario grasped the object. In the darkness he could barely discern its sword-like shape. He recognized the object regardless.

"The...Aeshma Sword..." he mumbled weakly. "Zaron...must have taken it...from the...royal museum...but...why?

"It must be an artifact..." he slowly realized. Feeling somewhat strengthened again, he sat up painfully, grasping the Aeshma Sword. "Sometimes, Zaron, you do some really stupid things—like handing me the very thing you were after!"

Mario stabbed the sword into Zaron's stomach lining. The dragon lurched, tossing Mario about, but the plumber held on tightly to the sword's hilt. He could hear the pained roars of the monster as it thrashed about. Mario ripped the sword out and plunged it in again, making the beast writhe in pain.

"Zaron!" cried Mario from the dragon's belly. "Either you let me go or I cut my way out! Your choice!"

"Stop! STOP!!" screeched the dragon in agony. "Enough! I'll let you go!"

Mario felt the stomach lining convulse, and suddenly he was shot up through the beast's throat and back out Zaron's mouth, landing on the grass outside the royal museum. He grimaced in disgust as he saw himself coated in greenish slime from Zaron's stomach, and he wiped himself on the grass to get rid of the vile mucus.

The dragon contorted with pain, collapsed, and exploded in a shower of green slime, restoring Zaron to his original form. he lay on the grass, still clutching his Staff of Shadows. Mario stood over him, the Aeshma Sword in his hand.

"Leave," he flung at the evil specter, "and don't _ever_ come back."

Zaron lifted a hand and pointed one black, bony finger at Mario. "I'll go—but mark my words, I'll be back for you again someday!"

"Heard it before," retorted Mario. "Your promises are made to be broken. Now get lost!"

Zaron's eyes raged red before he vanished in his characteristic puff of smoke.

Mario stood on the museum lawn, the Aeshma Sword lying in his hands. He gazed at the blade in wonder. "Who would have thought...?"

He grinned. "Score's even, Cyanara. One to one. I've got one artifact just like you do. Now to find the rest of them before she does!"

Suddenly the Sword floated up from his hands. He watched in amazement as it hovered over his fingertips and swiveled to point south.

"It's telling mewhere the next artifact is—I'm sure of it! I feel it!" Mario exclaimed. "This sword will point me to every single artifact out there! All I have to do is follow its directions!" Mario grabbed the Sword out of mid-air, a smile lighting his face. "Peach... There _is_ a way to rescue her! And by the Stars, I'm gonna _do_ it! I'll beat Cyanara's plans yet!" Electric with eagerness, Mario dashed out the castle gates and took off toward the south, headed for the second sacred artifact.

* * *

Zaron fell to the floor under Cyanara's blow.

"Do you mean to tell me you let him get away AGAIN?!" demanded the Empress.

"I-I am sorry, Master, but—he took the Aeshma Sword," Zaron confessed. "He nearly killed me with it!"

Cyanara sat back on her silver throne, regarding Zaron with contempt. The specter slowly rose to his feet again and stood before her, trembling.

"I've lost my patience with you," she informed him arrogantly. "The next time you fail, Zaron, I will not be so lenient. You may go." Her icy final words could have frozen the Sahara. Zaron hastily bowed and fled from the throne room.

The Empress sat motionless on her throne, considering. A hint of a smile crossed her lips. "Brilliant," she congratulated herself. "Abandoning the fortress and relocating here in the Crystal Palace was absolutely brilliant—a perfect decoy. And Mario walked right into the old fortress as if he owned the place. Poor fool." She smiled her cunning smile. "Soon I'll have the objects I need to unleash Penumbra's full power. Even if Mario has the Aeshma Sword, he'll never get the rest of the artifacts."

She fell silent, gazing about the crystal shrine, the very room in which she had learned of the artifacts that day. Her back was to the giant mural of the door in Penumbra's Tomb as she sat on her silver throne.

Abruptly the doors before her swung wide, and into the giant room strode a man in a white lab coat, moving rapidly down the aisle between the towering crystal columns. His muscles rippled beneath his coat, and intelligence radiated from eyes set behind thick glasses. He stopped before the Empress and bowed like a gentleman.

"Master, the experiments with the Lava Piranha were successful. The Piranha's genetic makeup has been duplicated and modified as you desired."

"What of...the project?" she asked deliberately.

"It is underway, Master. The work proceeds well."

"Excellent, Ray," Cyanara replied with a smile. "Send the Piranhas in to see me."

Ray bowed again and strode from the room. In a few minutes the doors opened again, and in slithered three tall Piranha Plants, moving on the countless vines that radiated from the ends of their stalks. One of the Piranhas was red, of course; he was the original Lava Piranha. But the second was yellow and the third was blue.

"YOU CALLED, EMPRESS??" screeched Lava Piranha.

"I did," Cyanara replied calmly, not at all afraid of the three monstrous man-eaters before her. "You three are to travel south and search Stony Isle for the artifact hidden there. And if Mario shows up, bring him to me—alive."

"YEAH," agreed Lava Piranha, "WE'LL DO IT! C'MON, GUYS, LET'S GET TO STONY ISLE BEFORE MARIO DOES!!"

The three Piranha Plants slithered out of the throne room. Cyanara smiled. "Excellent work, Ray," she congratulated her absent assistant. "Cloning the Lava Piranha is no small accomplishment. You've always done excellent work—aided by my own genetics skills, of course."

The Empress leaned her head back, recalling all of the creatures she and Ray had "conjured up" from raw DNA to terrify the Mushroom Kingdom—Petey Piranha, Smorg, on the list went.

"Even the might Koopa King received his power from me, he who would have been just another Koopa had I not enhanced his strength and size." Cyanara's face darkened. "And he betrayed me. Curses on him for that!"

Momentarily her anger cooled. "Still, Bowser has served his purpose in my grand plan. He's been a very handy distraction for that pesky plumber while I've been preparing to strike the kingdom. And speaking of the kingdom..." She rose from her throne, a wicked smile lighting her face. "It's time I paid little sister another friendly call."

Leaving the throne room, Cyanara swept to the right down a crystal hallway, finally entering a large, dim room filled with the instruments of torture—the rack, the iron maiden, the hot pokers, the searing electrodes. Princess Peach herself, still wearing her rainbow robes, hung from the wall by her chained wrists, her feet not allowed to touch the ground. Her face revealed the excruciating pain she was in. Cyanara smiled at Peach as she approached her younger sibling.

"Hello, Peach," she greeted her amiably. "It's so good to have you as my guest once again."

Peach sucked in her breath through her teeth and cried in pain. "Cyanara," she gasped, "let me down! _Please!_" More cries and groans escaped her lips.

"Now why would I do that?" asked Cyanara in feigned consideration. She pretended to muse deeply on the subject as Peach hung suffering before her.

"Please!" cried Peach. "Please—I beg you! Aaa-agh!"

Cyanara laughed derisively. "Perhaps I'll let you down in a day or two. How does that sound?"

Peach's only reply was another tortured gasp. Her arms were on fire with pain.

"You're only getting what you deserve, you little meddler," spat the Empress hatefully. "I was in line for the throne, not you. But you had to go sticking your nose in where it didn't belong, twisting Father's arm until he gave in and had me banished! All so _you_ could steal my throne!" Cyanara was livid with rage.

"That's—a lie!" gasped Peach painfully. "You—turned your back—on the good! Father was right—to banish you! I—"

Cyanara brought her hand around and smacked Peach across the mouth. The Princess cried out, face stinging from Cyanara's blow.

"Don't give me that line," Cyanara spat viciously. "It was _your_ fault, you stupid excuse for a sister. And I _hate_ you for what you did! You cheated me out of my throne, my crown, my title... Everything would have been mine! I HATE you, Peach!" The Empress switched from screaming rage to icy threatening. "Mark my words, Peach, you'll never leave this place alive. I gave you two weeks to turn over the crown. And if you don't..." She put her fist in Peach's face. "I won't hesitate to _kill_ for it."

"Please," Peach pleaded between gasps of pain, "let me down! Have mercy, Cyanara!"

"_Mercy?_" Cyanara exploded with laughter. "_MERCY?!_"

"Please!" Peach begged, straining against the flaming pain in her arms.

"You want mercy?" Cyanara asked snidely. She took hold of a long iron bar used to administer beatings. Peach stared at the brutal weapon in terror.

Without warning Cyanara swung the bar like a baseball bat, smashing the chain holding Peach's left wrist. Peach fell, but of course the chain holding her right wrist jerked her to an excruciating halt.

Princess Peach let out a bloorcurdling scream as her right arm was jerked. Her entire weight now pulled on that one arm, tripling the pain. Her face went taut, and she clenched her teeth in agony.

"That's all the 'mercy' you'll get from me," Cyanara flung at Peach in hatred. "A day in that position should teach you that I am _not_ to be pleaded with. Until we meet again...little sister." The Empress glared at Peach and left the torture chamber, leaving Peach to her sufferings.

The hours—yes, even the minutes dragged by for the Princess, each moment slightly more painful than the last. It seemed she had spent an eternity hanging by her right arm. Her right hand's fingertips were beginning to lose feeling for lack of circulation.

"Aaaaaagh...ohhhhhh...unh..." she gasped, barely able to remain conscious. The pain was unbearable, yet she was forced to endure it. Her mouth was dry, her head sagging forward.

"Can't...hold on..." she whispered hoarsely after a while. "Can't...stay...awake..." She felt herself slipping into that surreal, half-conscious daze. A delicious numbness crept into her mind, and she closed her eyes...

Peach awoke from her tormented stupor only minutes later as fresh pain stabbed through her arm. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming.

Suddenly she felt something beneath her foot. She pushed against it. It supported her weight, relieving the pain in her arm a little. In her numbness she could not determine what might be holding her up. Then, without warning, the thing under her foot began lifting her up, up, up, ever so slowly, until her chained arm hung down in its natural position. She sighed in relief, then gasped in pain as the blood throbbed back into her right arm. She clutched her arm until the spasm passed.

A muffled voice came from beneath her foot. "Princess!"

"Who's there?" Peach asked, startled.

"It's me! Twink!"

Peach sighed and smiled. "Oh, Twink, thank goodness you're here!"

"Can you undo the chain?" Twink grunted, straining to hold Peach's weight.

"I'll try!" Peach tugged at the unyielding chain. She tried to cut through it with her white magic to no avail. The shackle was unbreakable.

"It's no use," Peach sighed at length. "I can't break it."

"Where's the key to it?" asked Twink breathlessly.

Peach blanched. "Oh, please, Twink, don't even try to get the key. Cyanara keeps it with her all the time. She'd kill you if she caught you taking it!"

"I can't—hold you—much longer," groaned Twink. I've gotta let you down! I'll try to find something you can stand on!"

Twink lowered Peach to the extent of the chain and gently let her hang free. Peach winced as her own weight began to tear at her shoulder joint again. "Please hurry, Twink! Oh—ow!"

The little Star Kid rushed off, darting through the air as he scoured the chamber for something to support Peach's weight. He found a wooden block and dragged it across the crystal floor toward the helpless Princess.

"Oh, thank you, Twink," Peach gasped as she finally rested her weight on the block. "Thank you! I couldn't have endured another minute of that!"

"What happened to you, Princess?" the little Star asked anxiously.

"It's Cyanara again. She wants my throne," explained Peach. "She's trying to use an evil spirit names Penumbra to help her conquer the kingdom. And oh, Twink—Penumbra's possessed Mario!"

"No!" cried Twink. "Is he—"

"He's all right—I hope," Peach hastened to say. "The spirit is living inside him but doesn't have control over him yet. But if Cyanara gets the artifacts—" She bit her lip, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

"What artifacts?" Twink inquired.

"Thirteen objects Cyanara claims contain Penumbra's power. If she gets them all, Penumbra will—"

"I've heard enough!" Twink exclaimed. "Where's Mario? I gotta tell him all this!"

"He was at the castle when I saw him last. Please find him for me, Twink! Oh, and Twink?"

"Yes, Princess?"

"Tell him not to worry about me. I can handle whatever Cyanara does to me. But tell him to hurry!"

"Yes ma'am!" Twink darted out of the torture chamber.

A few minutes later a guard dressed in silver armor with a red tunic over the metal suit came into the room. Upon seeing Peach resting her weight on the block, he glared silently at her.

"Paroidian Guard," Peach whispered in fright.

The Paroidian kicked the block from beneath Peach's foot, dropping her painfully to hang by her right arm again. Peach screamed and writhed against the wall, trying desperately to free herself from the shackle about her right wrist, but could not get loose. The nightmarish pain nearly made her black out. Again she would be forced to endure endless hours of torment.

"Mario," she managed through her pain, "please...hurry..."

* * *

Mario trooped through Mushroom Fields, the scent of the flowers tickling his nostrils. The entire grassy expanse was tinged red-orange by the setting sun.

"It's almost enjoyable out here at sunset," Mario remarked as he traveled onward. "Well, it _would_ be enjoyable if I knew Peach were safe and not at the mercy of Cyanara. That witch..." He involuntarily clenched a fist at the memory of the Empress.

Mario trekked on through the fields, plucking wild mushrooms here and there to keep up his strength. Eventually he came to a winding river. A small wooden bridge spanned the water. Mario approached the bridge guard, a Goomba with a spike on his green helmet.

"Halt! Who goes there?" barked the guard.

"Come on, don't you know Mario when you see him? I'm practically a celebrity!" Mario said with a grin.

"Mario or not, you've got to pay the toll. Five Coins, please."

Mario sighed. "I don't have any cash."

"No Coins, no crossing." The Goomba stood firmly in front of the bridge, blocking Mario's path.

"Why is it always like this?" groaned Mario. "Can't you give me a break for once?"

"No."

"For your information, I'm trying to rescue Princess Peach. She's been kidnapped again."

The Spiky Goomba laughed. "Bowser's castle is the _other_ way, moron."

Mario glared at the guard. "I know that. She's not _in_ Bowser's castle."

"Then where is she?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Mario tapped his foot impatiently.

There was silence for a few moments.

"OK, go on across," the Spiky Goomba relented, moving aside, "but you owe me double next time you cross, Mario!"

"Thanks," Mario replied brusquely before racing over the bridge.

Now across the river, Mario continued onward, going further and further south. The sun was nearly set, and the last long rays of red sunlight were stretching shadows across Mushrom Fields.

Suddenly Mario felt he was being watched. He looked over at the woods far to his right, across the fields, and there, standing at the forest edge, was the same mysterious girl in gray he'd seen in Rogueport. He stared at the gray figure in the distant shadows. When he started toward her, she quickly disappeared into the darkened forest.

Mario stared after the vanished figure. "...Something tells me I'm being followed," he said slowly. "It's the girl in gray again. She avoids me yet trails me. Why?"

Still pondering the question, Mario kept on moving south, casting an occasional wary glance at the woodline off to his right. The girl did not show herself again, however.

At last it became too dark to travel further. Mario selected a soft spot in some tall grass and lay down, gazing up at the countless stars sprinkled across the sky. He lay thus for some minutes; then, curling up on his side, he fell into a deep sleep.

As Mario slept, a silent shadow stole out of the forest and crept up to him. The moon overhead was just past third quarter, and its cold light dimly illuminated the fearful face of the girl in gray. Her eyes gleamed white in the moonlight, standing in stark contrast to her hood-shadowed face. Silently she approached Mario. Her expression was one of uncertain fear.

The girl watched Mario closely for several minutes. Satisfied that he was asleep, she moved closer, kneeling next to him in trepidation. Anxiously she cast her eyes about the field as if unsure of her safety. Her trembling hand went for the Aeshma Sword.

A rustling in the distance caught her ear. She started and jerked her hand back. Slowly she lifted her head above the tall field grass and looked north. Three tall, plant-like silhouettes were visible in the moonlight, coming steadily closer to the sleeping Mario and his mysterious attendant.

Frightened, the girl withdrew her head and shivered. She looked ready to run. Then her face changed, and she looked down at Mario, still sound asleep. Something like mingled fear and determination came over her face. Something like courage.

The three tall plants rustled noisily through the field grass, heading south. They were just ten yards from discovering Mario when the girl in gray suddenly appeared in front of them.

"HEY! OUT OF OUR WAY!!" hissed one of the plants.

The girl in gray gazed at her foes with tremulous bravery. "...Stop."

"I SAID OUT OF OUR WAY!!" the plant hissed again.

The girl reached under her gray cloak and withdrew a silve flute. Lifting it to her lips, she played a brief, soothing melody. Mario, in his sleep, was lulled deeper into dreamland by the peaceful tune.

"AHHHH, PRETTY MUSIC..." whispered the lead plant. "SO...NICE..."

Beginning the tune again, the girl beckoned for the three plants to follow her. The plants, completely tranquilized by the gentle music, trailed softly after the girl as she led them safely around the sleeping Mario. The girl then abruptly broke off her playing and fled silently into the distant forest.

The lead plant snapped out of his music-induced stupor. "H-HEY, C'MON, GUYS, QUIT STANDING AROUND LIKE BUMPS ON A LOG! WE'VE GOT TO GET TO STONY ISLE BEFORE MARIO DOES!"

The vegetative trio continued their loud, rustling march south, never suspecting that the very Mario they had hoped to outrun was fast asleep behind them. Mario slept on. He hadn't awoken once during the whole escapade.

* * *

Mario stretched sleepily and groaned. "Morning already?"

He rubbed his eyes and sat up, consulting his watch. Seven o'clock. Already the sky was bright blue.

The plumber reached for his cap, which had fallen from his head during the night. He settled it on his head—and promptly removed it.

"Something's in my hat," he muttered as he withdrew the offending scrap of paper. He was about to toss it to the breeze when he noticed writing on one side of it. Curiously he scanned the handwritten note.

_Mario—I need to warn you of this. The artifacts you seek will be your undoing someday. Stop your search before it's too late for you and the Princess.—M_

"'M'? Who's 'M'?" Mario asked himself when he'd finished reading. Suddenly a thought struck him. He scrutinized the nearby area, and his eye caught a depression in the grass. Quickly he investigated the spot. As he scanned the tall grasses surrounding the spot, he spied a long gray thread caught on one of the grassy stalks. He gently plucked it from its place.

"She was here," he murmured. "The girl in gray was here last night." He furrowed his brow and looked around the wide Mushroom Fields, especially studying the forest tree line in the distance. The mysterious girl was nowhere to be seen.

He got to his feet. "Warning or no warning, I've got to keep going. Those artifacts are the only things that can keep Cyanara from using Penumbra's power." Mario patted his growling stomach. "And I need to hunt up breakfast anyway."

Again Mario started south, treading through mile after mile of unbroken grass, breakfasting on wild mushrooms as he went. The birdsong echoed merrily in his ears as he traveled.

Suddenly a childish voice called to him from behind. "Mario! Wait up!"

Mario stopped and turned. No one was in sight.

"Mario!"

Mario turned his face to the sky and saw a small yellow Star come flying down to him. A smile broke over his face as he recognized his visitor. "Twink! Hey, little guy! What brings you out here?"

Twink puffed from exertion. "I've been looking for you all night!" he exclaimed between breaths. "I've got a message from Princess Peach! She wants you not to worry about her but hurry to find the artifacts before Cyanara does!"

Mario had heard only one word of Twink's message. "Peach—where is she?" he asked anxiously.

"Don't worry about her, Mario!" Twink repeated, looking troubled.

"Tell me where she is! Please!" pled Mario.

Twink shook his head mutely.

"Please, Twink."

"Only if you promise not to go there until you've got the artifacts, like the Princess wants," Twink replied.

A tear rolled down Mario's cheek. "...All right," he said painfully. "Where is she?"

"She—she's in the Crystal Palace," Twink answered unsteadily.

"Has anything happened to her?"

Twink did not reply.

Mario fought back the tears. "You don't have to tell me, Twink. I know how cruel Cyanara is." His voice became choked with emotion. "Twink, can—can you do something for me?"

The Star Kid nodded.

"Go back to Peach. Stay with her. Do anything you can to help her. Don't let Cyanara hurt her any more than you can help. And tell her...tell her I love her." His heart wrenched. "Take care of her for me...please."

"OK, Mario," replied Twink soberly. "I'll get there as fast as I can!" He turned and flew north again, headed for the Crystal Palace.

Mario stood in the field and wept. "Peach," he cried brokenly, "I know you care more for your people than for your own life—but don't you think you've gone a little too far this time? Making me promise not to rescue you until I've prevented Penumbra's total awakening...it's too much!"

He lifted his tear-stained face and looked north. Somewhere in that direction was his Princess, suffering at the hands of her estranged older sister Cyanara. He knew full well the cruelty in that woman's soul. He started to move north, then stopped.

"No, I can't," he told himself. "I promised her I wouldn't. And I don't intend to start breaking my word now." He took a deep breath and turned south again. "The only thing I can do is collect the artifacts as fast as I possibly can."

He raised his voice. "I'll do it, Peach," he called out over the fields. "I'll do it—do it for you!" The breeze caught his words and carried them northward.


	7. Island of Stone

Mario, now having his plan of action firmly set in his mind, set out at a rapid pace, determined to collect the artifacts as fast as humanly possible. He traversed Mushroom Fields for another two hours, guided by the Aeshma Sword, until he reached a rather unexpected destination.

"Rogueport?!" Mario exclaimed in consternation as he stared at the infamous town. "Man, that Sword doesn't know a thing about roads. I could have been here in less than half the time!"

Feeling somewhat discouraged at this seeming loss of precious time, Mario entered the city, unsure of what he was supposed to do.

"Excuse me, sir." An elderly Koopa tapped him on the shoulder.

Mario turned. "Yes?"

The Koopa handed him an envelope. "I was asked to give this to you when you arrived here."

"...O...K," Mario said slowly, taking the envelope uncertainly. "Who gave this to you?"

"I don't know her name. She was wearing a gray hooded cloak. Looked a bit frightened. That's all I know."

Mario nodded, certain of who _that_ was. "Thanks." He turned and continued into the town, mingling with the crowd on the streets.

"Looks like the girl in gray is still following me. This time she knew where I was going, too. _I_ didn't even know I'd wind up here." Mario frowned as he pressed through the throngs. "This is getting _really_ weird, _really_ fast."

The plumber stepped into a dim alley and cautiously tore open the envelope. From it he withdrew two slips of paper. The first was another note.

_I see you're determined to get the artifacts despite my warning. I don't really think I should do this, but...please take this._

Mario looked at the second slip. "A boat ticket to Stony Isle?!" He whistled. "These aren't cheap! Wonder how she got this..."

Stuffing the ticket into his pocket, he looked out of the alley to see the girl in gray moving down the street. As she passed the alley, she turned her hooded head and looked fearfully at him. Mario stared at her.

When the girl had passed, Mario snapped out of his stare and dashed out onto the road, pursuing his mysterious follower. For some minutes he pressed through the crowd in the direction the girl had taken but could not find her. Soon he gave up the search.

"Again she eludes me," Mario conceded. "Oh, well, might as well make use of this ticket. The Aeshma Sword's still pointing south, and Stony Isle's about as far south as the ships go." He headed for the docks.

At dockside, Mario showed his ticket to the port manager, a rather disgruntled old Toad with a thick German accent.

"Ach," exclaimed the manager, "dat ship leafes in five minutes! You had best be on your vay, young man!"

"Which ship?" Mario inquired hastily.

The Toad gestured through the window at a brand-new ship with black hull and blue sails. "Dat vone dere. De _Black Thirteen_."

"Thanks." Mario dashed out of the manager's office and over to the ship, waving his ticket as he ran. The captain of the ship appeared on deck as Mario puffed up to the rail.

"What can I do for ya?" asked the grizzled old Koopa captain.

Mario handed over his ticket.

"Hmmmm, passage for one ta Stony Isle," mused the captain. He pocketed the slip of paper. "Yer welcome aboard, matey. Welcome ta yer new home for the next few hours—me pride and joy, the unmatchable _Black Thirteen_!"

"Great name," Mario muttered as he hopped over the ship's rail and onto the deck. He sauntered across the deck and leaned over the far rail, looking down into the deep blue water of the harbor.

"Somebody git Mikey outta 'is bunk!" bellowed the captain. "'E shoulda been up already!"

"T'won't be necessary, Cap'n," replied a burly Cleft as he climbed up from the hold below, settling his short granite body onto the deck. "I'm 'ere now."

"'Bout time, too. Now git ta work on that anchor. We sail now!"

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," returned Mikey as he clumped over to the capstan, the winch used for hoisting the anchor. He put his shoulder to the wooden handle and pushed, moving in a circle with the turning of the winch. There was a loud creaking sound as the stout wooden winch strained under the anchor's weight.

"Cast off!" barked the captain.

Two rough-looking Toads ran to the rail and signaled to a third on the pier, who unfastened the ship's mooring line from the dock. The two onboard the ship reeled the line in. The wind filled the ship's sails, and the _Black Thirteen_ cruised smoothly out of the harbor into the open water.

Mario watched from the rail as Rogueport grew gradually smaller and smaller with the passing minutes. He stood thus for over an hour, thinking.

"Looks like I'm headed for Stony Isle," he mused. "Why, I don't know. Maybe the second artifact is there. But only one person could ever possibly answer that question."

Suddenly there was someone at his shoulder. He jumped and quickly looked behind him.

"It's you," he breathed in awe.

The girl in gray clutched her cloak about her frail form to shut out the sea breeze. Her hood cast a shadow over her fearful face.

"...Why are you here?" Mario asked quietly. "What do you want?"

She shivered. "Can—Can I trust you?"

Mario nodded.

"I-I know about the artifacts. Even more than Cyanara does."

"You know about Cyanara too?" Mario probed. "How?"

"I—" The girl stopped. A new, more potent fear flared over her face, and she backed away from Mario.

"It's all right," the plumber reassured her. "I won't hurt you."

"H-He's in you." The frightened girl repeated the words. "He's in you."

"Who? Penumbra? Do you mean him?"

She gasped at the name, recoiling in terror.

"It's all right," Mario stressed. "Yes, he's in me, but he can't control me. See? I have one of the artifacts with me." He patted the Aeshma Sword in its sheath. "As long as I have this I can keep him from gaining control."

"N-No!" gasped the girl. "Throw it away! You mustn't use it!"

"But it's the only way I can keep Penumbra from eventually taking over me," Mario protested. "I made a promise—a promise I intend to keep. I _have_ to collect the artifacts."

The girl in gray clutched the ship's rail and shuddered. "Don't, Mario. Stay away from the artifacts. They must never be disturbed." Her face, though shadowed by her hood, betrayed the ultimate horror of one who sees the world's end at hand. "Don't ever use the artifacts, Mario. If you value your life—if you value Peach's life..."

"...How do you know so much?" Mario queried. "And why are you so certain of what you're saying?"

"I-I can't stay." The girl gripped the rail more tightly. "Remember my warning, Mario. He's coming. Penumbra—" she paled at the name—"he's coming."

Mario was struck by the intensity and fear in those words and remained silent.

"I-I'm sorry, Mario, but I can't let you get to the island."

"Huh? Wait a minute, you gave me the ticket! What—"

The girl pulled her flute from beneath her cloak. "I can't let you get that artifact!" she cried in fear. A tear rolled down her cheek as she put the instrument to her lips. An ominous tune sang forth from the flute.

Suddenly there was a crash of thunder, and the sky blackened with clouds within seconds. A gale rocked the ship violently, pitching Mario across the deck. He caught hold of the mast to keep from being thrown overboard. Then he looked back at the girl in gray.

She was gone.

A torrent of rain whooshed from the sky as the _Black Thirteen_ righted itself. Then a huge wave struck the ship's side, rocking it back the other way. Again Mario gripped the mast to prevent himself from falling into the sea.

"Where's the captain?!" yelled Mario over the storm. "And the crew?! Why aren't they doing anything!?"

As if to answer Mario's question, the gale ripped the captain's cabin door off its hinges, and Mario, looking down the length of the deck into the cabin, saw the dead body of the old Koopa captain crumpled on the floor.

Mario's stomach knotted as the realization struck him. "This whole thing was a trick! That girl sent me out here to drown!" Another wave washed over him as he clutched the mast. "No! I can't die here! Peach—"

Before he could finish his sentence, a monstrous wall of water crashed over the ship, tearing Mario's fingers from the mast and sending the plumber tumbling, disoriented, into the pounding waves.

Mario, now underwater, kicked and struggled his way to the stormy surface. Breaking the surface, he gasped for air and looked around for the ship. It, like the girl in gray, was completely gone, hammered to bits by the incredible raging storm in just minutes. Mario was alone—alone in the midst of the storm-tossed sea.

"Gotta find—what's left—of the ship!" he shouted between the waves that poured themselves over him. He struck out swimming into the storm. The going was difficult. Now Mario would be lifted to the top of an ocean swell; then he would be dropped into the trough between swells, the seawater engulfing him. He would claw his way to the surface and repeat the process. Over and over he fought his way forward like this, desperately hoping to find something of the ship still afloat, something to support him and help him ride out the storm.

He swam for what seemed like hours, driven about by the waves, searching for the wreckage of the ship. It was no use. The sea had opened her mouth wide and swallowed the ship whole, leaving not a splinter to prove the ship had ever existed.

At last Mario could swim no more. His strength was gone. With an exhausted sigh he stopped struggling against the waves and let them carry him. He was at the mercy of the wild sea now. The storm howled in his ears like an angry god, enraged at Mario's attempt to reach Stony Isle. His tired brain could hear the evil, haunting laugh of Penumbra in the rumbling thunder.

He choked on the sea. It rushed into his mouth, down his throat, into his lungs. He gagged and heaved and slipped beneath the waves...

* * *

It was just a lonely stretch of sand, caressed by the gentle waves of the sea. Sea gulls screamed overhead. Tough dune grass gripped the sand with twisted roots, drawing what little nourishment it could from the barren soil. And not far inland a rocky outcrop reared its jagged head skyward.

Mario lay limply on the beach, soaked with salt water. His cap had washed up a few feet away, likewise drenched. The plumber stirred. He felt the warm sand against his cheek.

"...Where...am I?"

He opened his bleary eyes. The world was fuzzy and distorted. He groaned.

Suddenly his stomach convulsed, and he found himself on his hands and knees, retching helplessly. A stream of salt water gushed from his throat and vanished into the sand.

Mario tasted the bitter, burning taste of his stomach acids and grimaced. He staggered to his feet, unsteady.

"Where's my hat?

His vision finally cleared, and he spied his cap not far from him. Snatching it up, he brushed the sand from it and jammed it, still dripping, onto his head.

"Guess this is Stony Isle," Mario said to himself. "Looks like I got here anyway, ship or no ship. Gonna be hard getting back, though."

He gazed inland, past the rocky outcrop. "Well, since I'm gonna be stuck here for a while, I may as well do a little exploring. There might be an artifact on this island, if what the girl in gray said was true."

Mario laid the Aeshma Sword flat in both hands—miraculously he had not lost it during his near-drowning. The Sword floated up an inch and swung around to point straight inland.

"Not south any more, huh?" Mario asked of the blade, catching it in his hand again. "Looks like the girl in gray was right. No time to lose!"

Having fully recovered from his bout with the sea, Mario dashed across the sand, over a low dune, and through a wall of waving dune grass to reach the rock pinnacle. He ran a hand over the rough surface in passing curiosity, then rapped on the stone.

A bit of rock dislodged from the crest of the rocky jag and plunked off Mario's cap. He bent and picked up the pebble. To his surprise there was a piece of paper crumpled around it. Quickly he smoothed out the wrinkles and read the freshly-penned words.

_Mario, please—enough is enough! The artifacts are dangerous! Penumbra—he will never be controlled by anyone! Stop before it's too late!_

Mario crushed the note in his hand and pitched it over his shoulder into the grass. "Not likely," he muttered to himself. "That girl's a doomsayer, just waiting for trouble to happen. I'm not just going to stand around while Cyanara collects the artifacts. Penumbra's got to be stopped!"

With that heated exclamation he forged past the tall rock and onto a plain littered with stones of varying sizes. He picked his way carefully around the rocks and boulders.

Atop the rocky jag he'd left behind was a small gray hump. It moved. From under her gray cloak peeped the mysterious girl in gray. She had heard Mario's every word. Without a sound she slipped down from her perch and disappeared into the trees.

Mario trekked across the rocky field still. "They don't call this Stony Isle for nothing," he muttered as he kicked as mid-sized chunk of rock out of his way. The land sloped upward for some distance, and he leaned forward to ease the climb.

Suddenly he stopped and backed up. A small chasm lay in front of him. It was actually an inlet, an arm of the sea that snaked through the gap far below.

"Almost fell in," Mario said in relief as he leaped lightly across the ravine.

Now across the gap, Mario continued his trek across the rocky island. The terrain sloped downward now. Here and there he began to see large rocky jags similar to the one he'd first seen near the beach. As he went they became more and more common until he literally found himself in a forest of stone, the tall crests jutting up from the ground all around him.

Mario kicked one of the tall outcrops. It did not budge.

"Looks like it's maze-solving time," he remarked as he pulled out the Aeshma Sword. It indicated that his destination lay to the right, somewhat diagonal to his current position. Mario immediately started off in that direction, threading his way through the stone forest in search of the second artifact. He continued on for fifteen minutes or so.

A gray form moved amongst the rocks. Mario caught the motion out of the corner of his eye and instantly froze, scanning the rocks around him warily.

Suddenly Mario whirled around just in time to see the edge of a gray cloak vanishing behind a stone jag not far from him. "Caught you," he breathed, sneaking up to the rock and easing his way around it. When he neared the other side of it he sprang around with hands outstretched to seize his stalker.

He grasped only empty air. There was no one there.

Mario took a deep breath. "I'm seeing things," he told himself. "It'd be just like me to think I saw that—"

The gray form whisked behind another outcrop some distance away.

"—That girl in gray," Mario finished quietly.

Stealthily Mario approached the hiding place of his supposed stalker. Again he reached out to grab her—and again he found nothing.

"...Is it her, or isn't it? Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

Mario stood still for a few minutes, listening. All was quiet. The apparition did not appear again. he shut his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Looks like I was just seeing things after all," he told himself as he finally relaxed. Opening his eyes, he turned to resume his trek and found himself staring right into the eyes of _the girl in gray_. He sucked in his breath, startled.

"I told you to stop," she told him fearfully, clutching her cloak about her, "but you aren't obeying me."

"I'm going to get those artifacts whether you like it or not," Mario replied firmly. "I promised I would, and I will."

"Y-You don't know what you're doing." The girl shuddered. "By gathering the artifacts, you're dooming the one you hope to save."

Mario started. "...How did you know I...?"

"Princess Peach will die if—if you unleash Penumbra's power."

"I'm not going to! I'm collecting the artifacts to keep that from happening!"

The unmitigated fear on the girl's face told him plainly that she didn't—or perhaps couldn't—believe him.

"You _must _stop," she told Mario fearfully.

"You don't understand. I promised I'd stop Penumbra from being unleashed. I can't stop." Mario was resolute.

Suddenly the girl shot out a hand and seized Mario by the throat, lifting him off his feet and pinning him to a nearby rock. Mario choked and clawed at her hand, but to no avail.

"Ack! Let—go of me!" he gasped.

The girl, though pinning Mario down with unwavering strength, still showed fear in her face. She pulled a silver dagger from beneath her cloak and aimed it at Mario's heart. "I can't let you bring down destruction on this world, Mario. For its sake and yours you must die!"

Mario caught her hand just as she stabbed the blade toward him, and the two struggled against each other for a moment. Then the girl's hand trembled, and she let the dagger fall to the stony earth. Mario let go of her hand, stunned.

The girl released Mario's throat, snatched up her dagger, and replaced it beneath her cloak. She backed away from Mario, trembling.

"I...I nearly killed you..." she whispered. "F-Forgive me." Turning, she fled into the forest of rocky jags and pinnacles. Mario lost sight of her almost immediately.

Absent-mindedly he rubbed his sore throat. "That girl... What does she want?" he asked himself. "If she wanted Penumbra stopped, she wouldn't have tried to kill me twice. If she wanted me dead, she _would_ have killed me. If she wanted the artifacts—she claims to know about them; why doesn't she just go get them?" He stared after his vanished attacker. "Is she friend...or foe? ...This mystery is starting to eat at me..."

Still mulling over the mysterious girl, Mario continued threading his way through the jungle of rocks, always going in the direction indicated earlier by the Aeshma Sword. After a half hour hike he emerged from the rocky tangle onto a sandy beach, similar to the one he'd washed up on. He stared out over the endless sea in puzzlement.

"That's odd. I just crossed the island completely. No sign of any artifact, though." He pulled the Aeshma Sword from its sheath and laid it in his palms. Strangely, there was no reaction.

"Huh," he mused, furrowing his brow. "Maybe it stops reacting when it gets within a certain distance of another artifact. If so, then I'm close, but...that only counts in horseshoes. Now what?"

Mario began wandering aimlessly up and down the length of the beach, hoping to stumble on a clue of some kind. He bent down and dug in the sand with his hands but came up with nothing. He tried digging in another place, and his hands again came up empty. A third time he knelt and scooped the sand away, with the same results.

At last Mario began to feel the heat of the sun and flopped down on the sand near one of his holes, shading his face with his hat. "For crying out loud, what dummy hid that artifact?" he sighed in frustration. "Whoever it was forgot to leave a sign that says 'Secret Artifact Buried Here.' Boy, would _that_ make things easier. Whew..." He wiped his brow with his sleeve.

Mario dozed in the sun for a short time. Suddenly he sat up. An idea lit his eyes. "Wait a minute. I've combed the entire beach for that artifact, but there's one place I haven't checked yet." He gazed out over the ocean again and grinned.

"The sea!"

Instantly he was on his feet, pounding down the beach. He reached the water's edge and leaped high into the air, splashing down a good ten feet from shore. Surfacing, he turned around in the water and scrutinized the shoreline.

"Nothing unusual here," he remarked, "so let's go deeper!"

So saying, he dived beneath the surface and propelled himself forward with powerful strokes, following the gradual slope of the sandy underwater "beach."

Abruptly the underwater slope dropped off sharply like a cliff, revealing the darker, murkier waters below. Mari was almost out of air. He surfaced for a moment to catch his breath, the swam back down to the drop-off and went over the edge of the submerged cliff, down into the abysmal waters of the deep sea.

Down, down he swam, ever deeper, searching for the artifact. Air bubbles floated up from some mysterious source far below, and Mario used these to fill his lungs periodically. Down, down, down, into the depths of the sea...

Suddenly the black mouth of an undersea cave loomed in the cliff wall. Catching a last air bubble in his mouth, Mario swam forward and entered the cave. He couldn't last long on a chestful of air—a minute and a half at best, and with the amount of oxygen he needed to power his swimming strokes that time would be halved. On he went, swimming ever deeper into the cave.

Light sparkled down from above. Instinctively Mario looked up and spotted the shimmering surface of an underground pool. Now desperate for air, he stroked upward hard, pulling for the surface.

His head broke the surface, and he gasped for air. As he floated there in the cavern pool, he gazed in awe at his surroundings.

A wide, spacious cavern spread out before his eyes. The limestone walls glistened with water, sparkling in the light. Mario climbed dripping from the pool and stood silently on the wet floor, taking in the natural beauty of the cave.

"Wow," he said aloud. His voice echoed hollowly. "This place is incredible."

He stepped to the wall and ran a hand over the rough, dripping surface. Curiously he turned and looked for the source of the cave's lighting. Apparently the light diffused from somewhere on the ceiling, but he could not pinpoint the source of the ambiance.

Mario suddenly noticed several passages leading out of the chamber he stood in. Walking up to the entrance of one, he saw that it was not some naturally-carved tunnel, but rather human in origin, chiseled from the limestone with infinite care. The entrances were perfectly square, and each passage ran between an endless double row of limestone pillars, each pillar cut with extreme precision.

"Looks like I'm not the first one here," remarked the plumber, surveying the passageways. "Someone carved these halls out of this solid rock. But why down here, underneath an uninhabited island?" He snapped his fingers. "Betcha a million Coins that artifact is down here somewhere."

Then he reviewed his options. He had a total of five hallways to pick from. He stood there in indecision.

"Question is, which way is the right way?"


	8. Second Artifact

Mario considered for a moment, then arbitrarily chose the left-most hallway. "I'll just take every hall in turn until I find the right one," he told himself as he ran down the dim limestone corridor.

Suddenly Mario found himself back in the room he had started in, almost as if he had been teleported back. He hadn't turned around, yet here he was. He frowned.

"O...K, guess that was the wrong one," he concluded. "Next." He dashed down the left-center hall and ran on for some distance. Then, much to his surprise, he emerged from the _right_-hand hall into his starting room. Again he had not turned around—he had run perfectly straight the whole time.

"Weird." Mario kicked the rock wall next to the right-hand hall in frustration. "Let's try this again."

Mario ran down the center hall and emerged from the left. He tried right-center, but that one led out at the center.

Now he was thoroughly confused. "Someone designed a really weird maze here, that's for sure. How am I supposed to get anywhere?" He scrutinized the five hallway entrances. They were identical down to the minutest detail, giving no clue as to which was the correct one.

"Maybe it's a combination—entering the halls in the right order," guessed the plumber. "The question then becomes what the combination _is_."

He turned and examined the cavern walls, hoping to find a combination inscribed there, but after ten minutes of painstaking scrutiny he grew frustrated again.

"Oh, for crying out LOUD!" Mario yelled and kicked the wall angrily. To his surprise, his foot broke right through the wall. Suspicious, he got down on all fours and examined the hole he had broken. Apparently there was a passage of some kind behind the wall.

"I gotcha!" Mario exclaimed, bounding to his feet. "It's smash time!"

He punched the wall hard. Nothing happened. He struck it again. The rock cracked ever so slightly.

"This is gonna take too long. Time for the old 1-2-3 combo!" He readied his fists, eyed the rocky barrier, and unleashed his famous punch-punch-kick combo on the limestone wall.

"Yah-Wah-HOO!" he yelled as he easily shattered the inch-thick layer of rock, revealing another passageway identical to the first five. Elated, he dashed down the new hallway, certain he had found what he had been searching for this time.

Mario ran onward for a full minute before emerging in a small, dome-roofed chamber. Water soaked the limestone walls, dripped from the ceiling, puddled on the floor. A single block of granite sat immovable in the room's center. Mario immediately approached it, realizing that granite was not to be naturally found in a limestone cave. Someone had placed it there for a purpose. Bending down, he noticed a faint etching on the stone's surface.

He ran his fingers over the cutting. "It's a map," he realized after having studied it for a few moments. He allowed his finger to trace the five hallways in the main room. Each ended at a dead wall.

"Maybe these halls are just decoys." Mario searched the map for any sign of another hidden passage, but none was to be found. Then he saw it—the slightest markings at the ends of the five halls.

"Hey, they're numbered," he exclaimed, brushing some water off the granite block. Sure enough, the halls were labeled one through five—center, right, left-center, right-center, and left, in that order.

"So it _is_ a combination puzzle. I thought so!" Quickly he memorized the order of the hallways and rushed back to the main cave.

"Center hall first," he said aloud as he raced down the middle hallway. As he had suspected, he reentered the main room from the left-hand corridor, as he had before.

"Next, the right hall." Mario dashed down the hall and again exited the left hallway.

"Now left-center," he panted, growing winded as he sped down the third corridor in sequence. Again he emerged from the left-hand hallway.

"Right-center," Mario wheezed and put feet to his words. After exiting the left corridor for the fourth time, he took a brief rest to catch his breath, then dashed into the left-hand hall.

As he ran down the hall, he noticed the dim light gradually fading. Soon he could see nothing. He slowed his pace so as not to inadvertently crash into anything. After a few more minutes the light began to grow brighter inside the hall.

"Must be past halfway," he said to himself, speeding up again.

The floor rumbled ever so slightly beneath his feet.

"That didn't feel good," Mario remarked grimly as he picked up his pace a bit more.

Another tremor, slightly stronger than the last, shook the corridor.

Hearing a whooshing sound, Mario cast a glance behind him and gasped as he saw a tremendous wall of water rushing toward him. "Oh, great! _Not_ good!" Adrenaline rushed through his bloodstream, giving wings to his feet as he sprinted down the hall.

On he went, the water rushing ever closer until it was mere inches behind him. The foaming, frothing crest of the wave threatened to crash down onto his head. With a speed born of desperation he put an extra foot between himself and his icy pursuer, but he couldn't keep up his pace forever.

His eyes caught light at the end of the corridor, and his heart gave a leap. Then, to his dismay, he saw a huge stone slab slowly descending from the ceiling to seal off the end of the hall.

"No!" The plumber pushed himself still harder, desperate to reach safety before he was sealed inside the hall to drown. He was fifty yards from the exit now, and the stone slab now blocked half the doorway. Forty yards. Thirty. The hall was two-thirds sealed. Twenty yards. The watery torrent behind him licked at his heels as it surged after him. Ten yards left. Mario dived forward, hit the floor, and skidded head-first through the closing gap beneath the stone slab.

The slab hit the floor, trapping the raging flood behind it. Mario slid to a halt on his stomach. He picked himself up off the wet cave floor and brushed the dampness from his shirt front.

"Whew," he breathed. "Hope I don't have to do that again!"

He turned his attention to the room he now occupied. It was similar to the main chamber he had first entered, the damp variegated limestone comprising floor, walls, and ceiling. Water dripped continually from the cave roof.

In one wall there was a depression, a place where the rock had been chiseled away to form a semicircular room extension of sorts. The neatly-cut area ran from floor to ceiling, and set into this cut-out was a rectangular block of granite. Mario recognized this, as he had the first block, as a human-added feature and immediately set about to examine it. The first thing he saw was the inscription on the rock face.

_A fated life_

_Most delicate_

_Rests in the scales._

_It may be saved;_

_Take thou this charge_

_And do it well._

"Charge? What charge?" Mario mused. "A 'charge'—in this sense—is a task, something important that's committed to some trustworthy person to do. But what's this task, and, more importantly, who was this message intended for?"

Mario put a hand atop the stone. There was a bowl-shaped depression in the center, a place where a round object might once have sat. Apparently the artifact was long since gone.

Suddenly Mario felt something wrap around his ankle. He looked down and saw a green vine twisted around his ankle joint.

Before he could react the vine yanked his leg backward, dropping him to his face on the rocky floor. Then it pulled him yelling into the air and whipped him into one of the limestone walls.

Mario yelled in pain as he was smashed against the rough wall. The vine then yanked him through the air and bashed him into the opposite wall.

Now the vine began to swing Mario in circles at a dizzying speed. The plumber felt sick to his stomach as he was whipped around by his ankle. Suddenly the vine released him, slinging him into for the third time into the wall. Mario crashed to his back on the damp limestone floor, bruised and scraped and otherwise banged up. He lay there groaning as his body ached from the beating.

A cacophony of rough, hissing laughter erupted from the other side of the room. It was coming closer.

A tall Piranha Plant leaned its bulbous red head over Mario's prone form. "WELL, LOOK WHO SHOWED UP AT THE LAST SECOND!"

"Lava Piranha," Mario said in disgust.

"NOT JUST ME! THE WHOLE CREW'S HERE!" screeched Lava Piranha. "C'MON, GUYS!"

Two other Piranha Plants leaned over Mario. One's head was blue; the other's was yellow. All three grinned toothy grins at Mario.

"MEET FROST PIRANHA AND THUNDER PIRANHA!" hissed Lava Piranha. "THE EMPRESS CLONED ME AND MADE THEM! WE'RE THE PIRANHA GANG!"

"Who cares about your stupid group nickname?" Mario retorted. "Where's the artifact?"

Frost Piranha, the blue version of Lava Piranha, held out one hand—er, leaf—to reveal a shining sphere of liquid water. "YOU'RE TOO LATE! THE AMRITA SPHERE IS OURS NOW!" hissed the icy plant.

"YEAH, AND IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU, WE'D BE OUTTA HERE ALREADY!" added Thunder Piranha, the yellow Piranha Plant. "WE WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE YOU TO VISIT THE EMPRESS IF YOU SHOWED UP! AND NOW YOU'RE OURS! _OURS!!_"

The three Piranha Plants let their long pink tongues hang out of their toothy mouths, taunting the fallen plumber. "I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN THE WAY YOU BEAT ME LAST TIME, MARIO!" hissed Lava Piranha. "THIS TIME, _YOU_ GET BEAT!"

The Piranha Gang reared their ugly heads back, bared their teeth, and fell toward Mario, ready to bite him to pieces. Mario winced and turned away, certain his end had come.

Feeling perfectly unharmed, the plumber hesitantly looked up and saw, to his amazement, his three enemies completely dazed. They'd knocked skulls while trying to bite him.

"Haste makes waste," Mario laughed, bounding to his feet and leaping out from amongst the Plants. "Didn't you guys ever learn how to take _turns?_"

"HEY, HE GOT AWAY!" yelled Lava Piranha. "GET HIM!" The three Piranha Plants slithered toward Mario on their vine appendages.

Lava Piranha sprouted a Lava Bud on each of his vine "arms" and aimed them at Mario. "YOU'RE MINE, MARIO!"

Mario leaped at him, grabbed the Buds, and turned them back at Frost Piranha and Thunder Piranha. The Buds spewed flames into the faces of the two Plants, scorching them badly. Lava Piranha screeched at Mario in rage and belched a cloud of fire from his mouth, but Mario dropped to the floor before he was burnt.

"You guys really need to learn teamwork," Mario admonished his man-eating attackers while pummeling Lava Piranha's main stem.

Thunder Piranha grabbed Mario's waist with a long vine and threw him backward into the wall. "HEY, FROSTY! ELECTRIC WAVE TIME!"

"FIRE!!" screeched Frost Piranha and poured a gushing river from his mouth, pressing Mario against the wall with the force of the wave. While Mario was being drenched, Thunder Piranha began to crackle with electricity and suddenly shot a searing lightning bolt from his mouth into the wave of water. Mario was shocked almost into unconsciousness by the water-amplified electricity. The two Piranhas stopped their attack, and Mario collapsed face-first onto the limestone floor.

"TEAMWORK, HUH?" Lava Piranha hissed, approaching Mario's fallen form. "TOO BAD YOU DON'T _HAVE_ TEAMMATES TO WORK WITH! MAYBE YOU'D HAVE A CHANCE AT BEATING US IF YOU DID!" The Gang erupted into their coarse laughter again.

Mario groaned and hauled himself to his feet. "Maybe I don't have teammates, but I don't waste my time laughing at my enemies, either!"

Frost Piranha produced two Frost Buds, which began machine-gunning Mario with ice pellets. Mario rolled to one side and hurled fireballs at the Buds, burning them to a crisp. Now Thunder Piranha stepped in, growing his own Thunder Buds and using them to shoot bolts of electricity at Mario. The agile plumber leaped against the wall and kicked off from it, flying over the heads of his foes and landing safely behind them.

"Back here, you big weed!" Mario called to Thunder Piranha.

Thunder Piranha turned, hissed through his teeth, then screamed as Mario unleashed his punch-punch-kick combo.

"Yah-Wah-HOO!!"

Thunder Piranha's stem snapped in two, sending the top half of the Plant crashing limply to the rough stone floor. Mario booted the dead Piranha's head across the room for good measure.

"Your turn next, Frost Piranha!" challenged Mario.

"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" hissed Frost Piranha. Without warning an icy blue beam shot from his mouth and froze Mario solid. "THAT SHOULD COOL YOU OFF, HOTHEAD!"

"NOW I MELT HIM INTO A PUDDLE OF PLUMBER!" Lava Piranha screeched. He reared back and spewed a jet of flames at the Mario ice sculpture, melting the ice away and scalding Mario with the heated water.

"Yeowch!" yelped Mario. "Pick on the icebox-brain next to you, not me!"

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?" demanded Frost Piranha.

"Ice—box—brain," pronounced Mario deliberately.

Frost Piranha nearly turned red with rage. "THAT'S IT, MARIO—YOU'RE HEADED FOR THE DEEPFREEZE!" The tall blue Piranha Plant lunged at Mario, razor teeth ready to chomp down on the plumber's head. Mario grinned and shot a fireball down the Piranha's throat.

"YEEEEEEOOOWCH!!!" screamed Frost Piranha as he reeled backward, throat sizzling. Mario took advantage of his foe's plight and broke Frost Piranha's stem in two as he had Thunder Piranha's.

Lava Piranha showed his ugly pink tongue. "OK, MARIO—JUST YOU AND ME! ONLY ONE OF US IS GONNA GET OUT ALIVE!"

"And it ain't gonna be you!" Mario shot back. "Hi-YAA!"

Mario's foot connected with Lava Piranha's bulbous head, snapping the giant plant's head back. One of the Piranha's vine appendages reached out and grabbed Mario by the wrist.

"Hey, let go!"

Lava Piranha grabbed Mario's other wrist too. "NO WAY! THIS TIME YOU LOSE!"

The giant plant dangled Mario over his gaping jaws. Mario looked down and gulped.

"BYE-BYE, MARIO!"

Mario kicked his feet out and held Lava Piranha's jaws open.

"YOU WANNA PLAY, HUH? HOW ABOUT A NICE BARBEQUE?" hissed Lava Piranha.

Mario looked down again and saw the Plant's throat glowing red. Suddenly he grinned.

"Nah, I'll pass. How about some gymnastics instead?"

With that Mario pushed off from Lava Piranha's teeth and swung up and over, pivoting on his vine-wrapped wrists. He kicked Lava Piranha's head with all his might as he came back down.

Lava Piranha's head snapped to one side, making him screech in pain and drop Mario. The instant Mario hit the floor he performed his combo on Lava Piranha, snapping his stem in two. The Piranha Plant screeched a dying scream as his head crashed to the floor; then the cave grew quiet.

Mario walked over to the dead Frost Piranha and pulled the Amrita Sphere from the plant's grip. No sooner was the second artifact in his possession than he felt a surge of strength.

"Whoa," Mario exclaimed. "Feels like each artifact I get increases my control over Penumbra. If that's the case, I'll need at least seven of them to have a majority of controlling force, since there are thirteen artifacts in all."

Mario looked around, and his face fell. "One problem. How do I get out of here? The hall I came in through is sealed off."

He thought a moment. "Wait, there's no way the Piranha Gang could possibly have used the underwater entrance like I did. They must have found or _made_ another way in. Hmmm..."

Mario scanned the chamber carefully. There were no signs of another exit anywhere. He nudged Lava Piranha's head with his toe. "Wish you could tell me how you got in here."

There was a dull rumbling, and the stone slab sealing the room shut quivered.

"Um...that didn't sound good..."

The slab shook again, and a crack suddenly snaked down its surface. Water began seeping through the fracture.

Mario gulped. "Oh...man..._!!_"

The next instant the slab burst into a hundred tumbling pieces, and the water that had been pushing against it came gushing into the room with tremendous force. The water kept coming, never stopping, and soon the cave chamber was ankle-deep with seawater.

"Not good!" Mario yelled over the rushing water. "I gotta find that exit!"

The cave rumbled again, and bits of limestone plinked into the water next to Mario. He looked up and saw a five-foot-wide tunnel bored into the ceiling.

"So that's how those Piranha Plants got in! I just gotta get up there!" Mario tried Wall Kicking up into the hole, but it was too far from the wall. He tried a backflip and succeeded in getting into the hole, but was not able to grab the edge of the tunnel above and haul himself up. When he landed the water was above his knees.

"Looks like I may have to let the water carry me up into that shaft," he said grimly as the water surged up to his waist. It's coming up fast—I don't have much time left!"

He could feel the icy water creeping steadily up his torso, and he shivered. Now the water was chest-deep. Then it gradually rose to his neck, then to his chin, and suddenly he was paddling to stay afloat.

"This is it! I've got one chance!" Mario positioned himself beneath the hole in the ceiling and waited. Up went the water level slowly, carrying Mario with it. In a few minutes Mario's head was inside the hole.

"Now!" Mario leaped out of the water and Wall Kicked up the vertical shaft until he reached the tunnel leading outward from the shaft. He landed in the limestone tunnel, caught his breath for a moment, then dashed forward down the narrow tunnel.

There was a loud whoosh behind him. Mario knew what that sound was. The water had reached the cave's ceiling and, having no other outlet, was being forced up through the shaft behind him at high speed.

"Not this again!" he yelled as he saw the wall of water shoot up from the shaft and come rushing toward him through the tunnel. He ran with all his might, but the water closed on him by degrees until it was inches away.

Another vertical shaft loomed in front of him. He made a desperate leap forward and Wall Kicked up this second shaft as the water filled the tunnel below.

Mario saw light far above his head. "Almost there!" he exclaimed breathlessly as he bounded from wall to wall, kicking his way upward.

The water finished filling the tunnel below. Again under pressure, the liquid had nowhere to go except up the shaft after Mario.

Mario looked down as he Wall Kicked upward and saw the foaming column of seawater shooting up toward him. He was nearly to the top. Closer and closer rushed the speeding liquid as he bounded upward in desperation.

At last he seized the edge of the shaft. His head was in the open air. He started to pull himself clear of the hole. Then, just before he got out, up from the shaft shot a fantastic column of ocean water, catching him and hurling him high into the air.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!" yelled Mario as he flew into the air. He shot up past the treetops and began to slow down, finally beginning to plummet back toward the earth. Down, down, down...

"Mmph...mmmmmph!!"

Mario's legs stuck out the top of the sand dune, waving helplessly in the air. He tried a few more muffled exclamations but succeeded only in getting sand in his mouth.

The embedded plumber worked himself back and forth in the sand until he was able to pry himself free. Immediately he spat the sand from his mouth and rubbed the grit out of his eyes.

"Whew," Mario breathed as he knocked his sandy cap against his overalls, "talk about a rush! The landing could have been better, though."

He replaced his cap on his head and looked around. "Looks like I landed right where I washed up on this island. Rogueport should be due north of here." He sighed. "So...how to get back?"

* * *

"So they failed."

The red-tunicked Paroidian Guard nodded wordlessly.

Empress Cyanara set her lips in a thin line. "You may go."

Bowing, the guard strode from the crystalline shrine, his silver armor clinking under his tunic. He passed through the double doors, leaving Cyanara once more alone.

The Empress narrowed her black eyes. "Curse those Piranha Plants. I should never have trusted them to get the Amrita Sphere. Now Mario has two artifacts to my one. He now has the upper hand. This is unacceptable!" Her fist struck the arm of her silver throne.

Rising, Cyanara paced back and forth before her throne, black skirt swishing. "Mario must never gain a majority of the artifacts. If he does—"

The doors to the cavernous shrine swung open, and in swept a red-eyed creature in a tattered black robe. He bore a gray earthenware jar in his hands.

Cyanara stopped pacing, and her face lit up. "Zaron!" Her voice dropped to a low, smooth tone. "I trust you bring good news..."

"Yes, Great One," rasped Zaron as he approached the Empress. "I bring with me the Lethe Jar, dredged from the bottom of the Yoshi River. The Shroob task force has labored night and day to recover it."

Cyanara took the jar with an evil smile on her face. "Excellent work, Zaron. Now I and Mario are again equal in power. That is, until I get the next artifact." She looked Zaron in the eye. "I'll have to repay you for this service."

Zaron waited in anticipation.

"How would you like...Princess Peach?"

Zaron's eyes glowed fiercely red, and he smiled, showing his vicious fangs. "I would be delighted to add to her torment!"

"Come with me." The Empress led Zaron from her throne room, through the halls of the Crystal Palace, into the torture chamber. Peach still hung from the wall by her right arm, limp and nearly unconscious from the pain in her arm. Her eyes were closed; her breathing was ragged.

"Oh, Peach!" called Cyanara sweetly. "I've brought an old friend to visit you."

Peach did not respond.

Zaron approached the tormented Princess and grinned wickedly. "Hello, Princess Peach," he rasped.

Peach gasped, and her eyes flew open. "Z-Zaron," she whispered hoarsely, terrified.

"Having a nice time?" Zaron inquired, still grinning.

"Let's—see—how you feel—after—hanging—by one arm—for a whole day," Peach managed despite her pain.

"I'd rather _you_ felt it, not me," Zaron replied snidely.

Peach spit in his face.

"Why, you—" Zaron seized Peach's ankle and pulled.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Peach screamed and writhed against the wall as Zaron stretched her already-inflamed arm even more painfully.

"YAAAA!! AAAAAAAH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Zaron twisted Peach's ankle, intensifying her hysteric screams. Cyanara stood by, smiling as she watched Zaron torture Peach.

Finally Zaron gave a last vicious jerk on Peach's ankle and let go. Peach, through her pain, felt her arm suddenly pull out of her shoulder joint. She screamed again.

"Oh, no, it seems my poor little sister has a dislocated shoulder," Cyanara said in feigned pity. "You may go, Zaron. I have business to attend to with this immature sibling of mine." Zaron bowed and left the room.

Cyanara turned back to the screaming Peach. "Oh, you poor dear. Does it hurt?"

"AAAAAAH!!"

"I'll take that as a _yes_," Cyanara said nonchalantly. "Here, let me help you down from there." She seized the iron bar she had used before and smashed the chain holding Peach's right wrist to the wall, dropping the Princess to the floor. When Peach crumpled to the floor her arm popped painfully back into its socket. She cried out in pain.

Cyanara stood over Peach and stepped on her injured right arm, evoking still more screams. "I hate you," she spat coldly at her fallen sister.

"Y-You—have no reason—to hate me," Peach rasped through her dry throat.

Cyanara stepped on Peach's arm a little harder, making Peach gasp in pain. "Guards!"

Two Paroidians marched into the room and bowed low.

"Put this naive little girl on the electric table."

The guards obeyed wordlessly, grasping Peach by the arms and dragging her across the room to a steel table. The lifted her onto it none too gently and fastened her down so she could not move. They then left the room at Cyanara's command.

"It seems you aren't convinced yet that I am the Mushroom Kingdom's rightful ruler," Cyanara commented as she moved to the foot of the table. She picked up a fistful of thin wires with tiny needles at their ends. "So now I'm forced to treat you to further convincing." Smiling, she stuck one of the wires' needle-point ends into Peach's left shoulder. Peach winced.

"Pity you don't spare yourself the pain and agony," Cyanara remarked, sticking three wires into Peach's scalp. "Perhaps I could let you go if you'd just officially give me that crown." She stuck a needle into Peach's right shoulder, then proceeded to jab needles into Peach's hands and the soles of her feet. Peach winced with every needle.

Cyanara returned to the foot of the table and pushed a button on a small console beside her. Instantly the room was filled with an electric hum. Cyanara adjusted the generator's output.

"Now then, Peach, let's start with the basics. Give me that crown."

"N-Never," Peach quavered.

Cyanara flipped a switch, and instantly Peach convulsed and screamed as electricity stabbed through her body.

Turning off the current, Cyanara continued, "Let's try this again, shall we, Peach? Give—me—that—crown."

"I-I'll never...give it to you," Peach gasped.

Cyanara shrugged and hit the switch, sending the voltage coursing through Peach again. Peach screamed and strained against the clamps holding her to the table.

"One more time, Peach," Cyanara informed her, shutting off the electricity. "And if you don't comply...you're going to be on this table for a long, _long_ time."

Peach shivered.

"Give me that crown, Peach." Cyanara's voice was low and threatening.

"Cyanara," Peach quavered, "y-you have no right to take my crown!"

"Fine," Cyanara seethed, moving her finger to the switch. Peach cringed.

There was a short click, and nothing happened.

Cyanara's face registered disbelief, and she flicked the switch back and forth several times. There was no response, no tormenting shock. Nothing. Enraged, Cyanara struck the console with her fist.

"Curse this confounded machine!" she exploded. Bending down, she traced the wires running from the generator to Peach. They were all cut.

The Empress straightened up and focused her black eyes on her helpless sister. "Who did this?" she asked icily, holding up the severed wires.

"I-I don't know," Peach answered shakily.

Cyanara narrowed her eyes. "I didn't cut these wires. You _couldn't_ have. So there must be someone else in the room, and when I find him, he'll pay dearly for this interruption!"

Slowly the Empress walked about the torture chamber, her piercing eyes scanning every inch of the room. She made a complete circuit about the room and, having found nothing, returned to the table where Peach lay.

"It appears I've been outwitted this time, darling sister," Cyanara told Peach spitefully, "but don't think I'll be so easily fooled next time I pay you a visit." With that the Empress left the room, leaving Peach still clamped to the table.

After a few seconds of silence, Peach heard a familiar muffled voice beneath her dress. "Princess!"

"Twink! Where are you?" asked Peach eagerly.

The Star Kid popped out from the bottom of Peach's skirts. "Sorry, but that was the only place I could find to hide in before Cyanara started looking for me. I promise I didn't look!"

"Oh, Twink, I would never think that of you," Peach answered. "Thank you so much. If my sister had zapped me one more time I think I would have passed out. You came just in time."

"It's a pleasure, Princess Peach," Twink replied. "And I have a message from Mario!"

"You do?" asked Peach, face lighting up despite her aching body. "Tell me!"

"He promises he'll get the artifacts and stop Penumbra. And he sends his love."

Peach smiled.

* * *

Empress Cyanara seated herself on her silver throne and called for a guard. One stepped through the doors.

"Send him in."

The guard bowed and left the room. Cyanara waited.

In a few minutes the doors to the cavernous crystal shrine swung wide, and in stepped a figure cloaked in silver. His hooded cloak covered him completely except for his bold, strong face. "You sent for me, Master?"

"I did," Cyanara replied. "I want you to spy on Mario for me. Report his every move to me and let me know if he gets any more artifacts besides the two he has already. That pesky plumber needs watching."

"Consider it done," replied the man in the silver cloak. "Nothing Mario does will go unnoticed." Turning, he strode from the room, letting the crystal doors swing shut behind him.

Cyanara smiled.

* * *

**Author's Note:** It's been several years since the introduction of Her Imperial Highness Cyanara, but there's one bit of information I don't believe I've shared with my readership yet. You may find this bit of trivia interesting.

_"...the original Greek word parodia has sometimes been taken to mean counter-song, an imitation that is set against the original." —Wikipedia_

This is, in fact, the origin of the Paroidian Guards, the mostly-silent bodyguards of the Great One Cyanara. As parodies mock the works they are patterned after, so do the Paroidian Guards make a mockery of song, and of happiness in general, by their presence and their silent cruelty.

While I'm explaining the origins of names, yes, Cyanara is a direct derivative of the Japanese _sayonara_, meaning "goodbye." If you've read Cyanara's backstory on the series website, you can probably guess why I chose the name.


	9. Wario's Woods

Mario hopped onto the pier at Rogueport Harbor and turned to wave at the captain of his tattered black rescue ship. "Thanks for the lift, Cortez. If you hadn't showed up, I could have been stuck out there for quite a while!"

"No problemo, _amigo_," replied the skeletal spirit of the old pirate Cortez in his Spanish accent. "Any time you need a ride, just drop me a line, _¿__comprende?_"

"I sure will! Thanks again!" Mario called as the pirate's _Black Skull_ sailed away from the pier. After seeing Cortez off, he left the harbor and entered the town of Rogueport.

As Mario mingled with the crowd on the street, he again felt he was being watched. Looking behind him, he saw the fearful face of the girl in gray.

"Hey! You!" Mario called, pushing through the crowd toward the girl. But he soon stopped as the girl's face melted into the throng.

"Again, vanished without a trace," Mario muttered as he continued down the street. "I get the feeling she's hiding something. She sure doesn't want to talk very much."

Mario stepped into an alley and held the Aeshma Sword flat in his palms. It floated up form his hands and swung around to point north.

"North," Mario said to himself as he sheathed the Sword. "That's where my next artifact is. Time to head out and get it!"

He stepped back out into the road and headed for the city's northern gate. As he passed under a stone arch that spanned the cobbled street, a blue-coated Bandit nearly bowled him over.

"Whoops, sorry, sucker!" yelled the Bandit over his shoulder as he raced down the street.

Instinctively Mario patted his pockets and gasped. "The Amrita Sphere! It's gone! That Bandit—" Instantly he was running down the road after his pickpocketer. "I can't lose that thing!"

The Bandit looked back and saw Mario pursuing him. "Yikes, he's after me! This thing's gotta be worth some serious dough!" He stuck his tongue out at Mario. "Nyah nyah, can't catch me!"

Mario ran faster, trying to catch up to the fleeing thief. "You get back here with that!"

The Bandit led Mario on a wild chase through Rogueport, grinning mischievously the whole time. He dashed down the street and suddenly sprang up atop a stack of crates leaning against a building. From there he leaped to the roof of the house beside him and took off across the rooftops.

"You won't get away form me _that_ easily!" Mario muttered as he saw the Bandit start across the roofs. He leaped into the air.

"Yah!"

He hit the street and immediately jumped again, higher this time.

"Yahoo!"

When he came down he sprang into the air in a magnificent final leap.

"YIPPEE!!"

He landed on the roof and sped on after the Bandit.

"Looks like the tubby plumber's got some jump in him," commented the Bandit as he raced across the rooftops. "Heh, let's see if he can match _this!_" Without warning he leaped over the street, landed on the roofs of the opposite buildings, and kept running.

"Get some better moves, pal," Mario said aloud as he saw the Bandit clear the street. "Two can play at this game!" He made a small leap forward, crouched for an instant, then hurled himself forward in a tremendous Long Jump, easily clearing the street as his pickpocketer had. He came up running on the other side.

"Man, this guy doesn't give up!" wheezed the Bandit. "And I'm gettin' winded! Guess it's time to put a quick end to this chase!" He deliberately slowed down, letting Mario begin closing in on him.

There was a channel that cut through Rogueport on its way to the sea. It was nearly four feet wide and ran some distance through the town. In fact, it was directly ahead of the Bandit.

"Looks like he's slowing down," Mario congratulated himself, picking up his pace and closing in on the Bandit. "I've got him now!"

The Bandit loped toward the channel, snickering as Mario raced over the rooftops to apprehend him.

Mario was only ten feet away and closing fast. He reached out to grab the slippery thief.

Suddenly they reached the edge of the roof, and the Bandit leaped out over the channel below and landed safely on the other side. Mario, however, was not expecting this move, and his momentum carried him over the edge. He yelled as he fell toward the water below.

Mario fell four feet before he felt someone catch him by the armpits.

"Need a lift?" asked a strong voice behind him.

Mario craned his neck around and saw a tall, strong-faced young man holding him up. He was dressed in a white jumpsuit with silver bands about his thighs and arms and an abnormally wide silver collar around his neck. His vest, his boots, and even his hair were of silver. Mario looked down. The young man was actually levitating over the channel below.

"Up we go," announced the man as he floated upward, carrying Mario with him. He landed atop the roof on the opposite side of the channel and set Mario down.

"Who _are_ you?" Mario asked incredulously.

"The name's Quicksilver," answered the young man. "I've heard of you, Mario. The rumor around town is that you're after thirteen great artifacts."

"I sure am, and that creep down there has one of them!" Mario exclaimed, pointing at the Bandit he'd been chasing, who was now on the street below, cocky as could be.

"Is that so?" asked Quicksilver, a smile slowly lighting his face. "Be back in a flash. Stay here." Quicksilver withdrew a white rod from beneath his vest and pressed a button on its side. The rod instantly shot out spear-like blades from both ends, transforming into a double halberd. "I'll give that Bandit a taste of his own thievery."

Suddenly Quicksilver shot away from Mario in a blur of silver. Mario looked around, confused, then cast his eyes on the street below to see Quicksilver already there, facing the Bandit.

"He's not called Quicksilver for nothing," Mario remarked in amazement. "He sure is _quick!_"

Down on the street, Quicksilver easily snatched the Amrita Sphere from the startled Bandit with one superfast swipe. "Thanks for this."

"H-Hey, you silver-haired nerd, give that back! It's mine!" yelled the Bandit. He grabbed for the Sphere.

"Ah-ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Quicksilver abruptly began twirling his halberd in one hand, moving it so fast that it looked like a solid silvery-white blur and buzzed like an electric saw. "Do you _really_ want to argue with this?"

The Bandit backed away from the whirling blades.

"I didn't think so." Quicksilver instantly halted his halberd's spin. "Don't go stealing from Mario again, or I'll be after you so fast your head will spin—literally. Understood?"

The Bandit nodded nervously.

"Good."

The next instant Quicksilver was on the roof with Mario again.

"Man, how do you move so _fast?!_" Mario asked, still amazed.

"I was born this way. Comes in handy." He handed the Amrita Sphere to Mario.

"Thanks," Mario said gratefully, pocketing the Sphere. "I've got to go."

"Mind if I come along?" inquired Quicksilver. "I love this sort of thing. A grand scavenger hunt, winner take all. It'd be my honor to accompany you."

"Sure," Mario replied readily. "I need a partner, and you fit the bill just fine!"

"Great. So where are we headed?"

Mario allowed the Aeshma Sword to float freely above his hands, whereupon it pointed north. "That way."

"So that sword points the way to the next artifact," Quicksilver mused. "Interesting."

"Yeah, and we'd better get going," Mario added, consulting his watch. "It's three o'clock already, and I'd like to have the third artifact by tonight at the latest. I'm kinda in a hurry."

Quicksilver flashed behind Mario and easily lifted him as he had before. "Then hang on. We'll be out of this rogue's town in no time."

Silently Quicksilver floated into the air, bearing Mario over the streets and alleys toward the northern gate of Rogueport. Ten minutes later they touched down just outside the gateway.

"That was quick," Mario congratulated his partner.

"That's my name, don't forget," Quicksilver replied. "Now, off to the north!"

The companions trekked down the dirt road for a mile, then left it in favor of Mushroom Fields, as the fields were the most direct route north. The birdsong surrounded them with twittering music as they pressed through the tall field grass at a rapid pace. For two hours they moved onward. Then—

"Halt!"

Mario rolled his eyes. "Oh, brother, not again..."

"To cross this bridge, you'll need to pay five Coins." The Spiky Goomba was adamant this time.

"Listen, buster," Mario addressed the bridge guard, "I just so happen to be on a mission to save this kingdom—the kingdom that gives you _your job_. And if I don't cross this bridge, I don't save this kingdom, and you—_lose_—your—job. Get it?"

"No Coins, no crossing." The Goomba set his jaw. "Besides, you owe me five Coins from _last_ time, so pay up!"

Suddenly Mario found himself being lifted up and over the wide river. "Hey, thanks, Quicksilver," he said to his partner.

"Not a problem," replied Quicksilver as he set Mario down on the opposite bank.

"Hey! You two get back here and pay your toll!" shouted the Spiky Goomba from the bridge.

"Remind me to boot him into the river next time," Mario told Quicksilver as the two kept going north, leaving the shouting guard behind. Quicksilver chuckled.

With Quicksilver to speed things up, Mario made record time through the fields, arriving at Peach's castle at five o'clock that evening. The two passed the castle and headed into the forest north of it.

Around six o'clock they came across a sign on the trail they were treading. Mario took one look at it and tensed.

"I'd know that sloppy handwriting anywhere." He looked around the dim forest warily. "Wario."

"_'No trespassing. All morons who ignore this obvious warning will be slugged.'_ Sounds friendly," commented Quicksilver dryly.

"I haven't been out here in ages," Mario said slowly, "but if I'm not mistaken, the area ahead is known as Wario's Woods."

The partners looked ahead on the trail into the deepening gloom of the forest.

"I'll scout ahead," Quicksilver offered and disappeared down the trail in a silver blur. He returned moments later.

"Nothing ahead. The trail's clear for some distance," he reported.

"OK, let's go." Mario quietly started down the trail past the "No Trespassing" sign. Quicksilver followed, halberd ready.

Suddenly a huge pink-and-yellow spider dropped from the branches overhead and landed right on Mario's hat. He jumped, yelled, and knocked the oversized arachnid from his head. Quicksilver cut it in two with his halberd.

"Yuck." Mario shuddered. "I forgot about those things. They're everywhere in Wario's Woods."

Quicksilver wiped the yellow spider guts from his halberd's blade. "Nuisance, aren't they?"

"Just watch your head."

They moved forward again, treading softly. Another spider crawled across the path. Mario burnt it to a crisp with a fireball. He torched another as it climbed a tree.

"See? They're everywhere."

Quicksilver nodded. "Keep going. We can handle these pests."

On they went, forging deeper into the gloom of Wario's Woods. The trail began to twist and turn unpredictably, and Mario was forced to continually consult the Aeshma Sword to determine if they were still headed in the right direction. They continued in this tortuous manner for an hour or so, dispatching the spiders they encountered along the way.

Then, as he rounded another bend in the trail, Mario saw her. She stood some distance away from the trail, nearly concealed by the trees and the semi-darkness created by the dense leafy canopy overhead. Her face was filled with that unnatural, desperate fear. It was the girl in gray. Mario abruptly stopped and stared at her.

"What is it?" asked Quicksilver, stopping beside him.

Mario pointed at the girl in gray—or at the place he had just seen her, anyway. She was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't see anything," Quicksilver said, puzzled.

"She's gone," murmured Mario. "Vanished again."

"Who was it?"

"I'm not sure," Mario replied, starting down the trail again. "I don't know her name. All I know is that she's been trailing me ever since I started hunting for the artifacts. She's left me several notes, but only once has she actually approached me and spoken to me."

"Why are you so interested in this girl?" inquired Quicksilver as they walked.

"Because she's interfered with my plans several times." Mario recounted the story of his shipwreck and the subsequent events on Stony Isle.

"Sounds to me like she's trying to do you in."

"I don't think so."

Quicksilver was now thoroughly puzzled.

"She seems not to know what she wants to do. I mean, she did try to kill me on the island, but she didn't actually do it. And she asked my forgiveness, of all things. I think she thinks I'm trying to empower Penumbra, and she wants to stop me. I just need to convince her that I'm not the enemy here."

Quicksilver nodded and said nothing.

They continued on down the trail for a little longer. The forest was very dim and gloomy now, and a fog was starting to form, making visibility poor. Mario strained his eyes to see into the thickening mist.

Suddenly Mario ran smack into someone coming down the trail toward him. Both he and the newcomer fell backward into the dirt.

"Grrrr... Who's trespassing on my turf?" growled the newcomer's voice through the fog.

"I'd know that voice anywhere," Mario said quietly as he got to his feet.

The newcomer stepped forward through the mist and became visible. He was powerfully muscled but rather chubby, and his black mustache bent crookedly from his oversized nose. He wore a yellow shirt and purple overalls. A bold _W_ was emblazoned on the front of his yellow cap. He scowled a cranky scowl.

"Wario," Mario said tersely.

"Looks like the plumber makes house calls now," Wario growled. "Look, I may have helped you beat the Shadow King and Queen before, but that don't mean I invited you to pay me a visit. Now get out!" He pointed his fat gloved finger in the direction Mario and Quicksilver had come from.

Quicksilver lifted his halberd.

Mario quietly turned and laid a hand on his comrade's arm. "No, Quicksilver. This is between me and him." He faced Wario again. "Listen, Wario, I'm not here to pick a fight. I'm looking for thirteen sacred artifacts that are scattered around the Mushroom Kingdom. Cyanara's looking for them too, and if she gets them—"

"I don't care why you're here!" shouted Wario. "I want you off my property NOW, before I settle the score between us! I've got hoards of treasure to hunt up and don't have time to waste fighting you, so SCRAM!"

"I'm sorry, Wario," replied Mario firmly, "but we've got to keep going."

Wario pounded his fist into his palm. "That does it, you annoying little twerp. I never did forget the way you laid a beatin' on me way back when, and since you're so sure of yourself, I'm gonna return the favor. Here comes the macho PAIN TRAIN!"

Mario ducked Wario's starting punch and slugged him in his tender stomach. Wario grunted and swung at Mario again, knocking him into a tree and dazing him.

"You're finally gonna get yours, Mario!" Wario bellowed as he charged Mario headfirst. Mario dived out of the way, and Wario crashed his head into the tree he'd knocked Mario into, breaking it in two like a toothpick. The impact didn't faze Wario in the least.

"Somebody's got an awfully thick skull," remarked Mario as he hit Wario with a few fireballs. "Is that why I can never get through to your pea-sized brain?"

"GRAAAAAAAAGH!!" roared Wario, rushing at Mario again. Mario sidestepped and stuck his foot out, tripping Wario onto his face in the dirt. The antihero came up swinging.

Jumping back to avoid Wario's fists, Mario did a sliding kick at his legs, trying to knock him over. Wario jumped up and Ground Pounded onto Mario's stomach, knocking the wind out of the plumber.

Mario choked and clutched his abdomen, desperately trying to breathe. Wario booted Mario backward through the dirt.

"Got a little winded, Mario?" jeered Wario. He put his foot on Mario's throat and pushed, choking Mario further.

Suddenly Mario reached up, shoved Wario's foot off his neck, and bit down on his nemesis's ankle. Wario yelled in pain and stumbled backward. Mario jumped up and drove into him, dealing a stunning blow to his braincase.

Wario teetered unsteadily. "...grrragh...ouch..." He steadied himself and glared at Mario. "Grrr, you're tougher than I figured. And I've been working out like mad so I could beat you one day. Grrrr!" He turned and ran down the trail into the fog, disappearing from view almost immediately.

"That was quick," Quicksilver commented. "That Wario gives up too easily."

"He acts tough, but he's pretty much like most bullies—a coward on the inside," Mario agreed. "Come on, we've got to keep going."

Another hour of travel through lengthening shadows brought them to a massive stone castle in the heart of Wario's Woods. It looked basically normal except for one glaring feature—a giant stone Wario hat atop the stone wall, just over the massive wooden gate.

"Wario's castle," Mario announced. "It's been ages since I was here last." He consulted the Aeshma Sword. It pointed directly at the castle gate. "Looks like we're going inside. Wario's got a treasure hoard somewhere in this place. The artifact could be in his mounds of gold somewhere."

"Getting in isn't a problem. Stand back." Quicksilver stepped up to the gate, spun his halberd like a buzzsaw again, and easily sliced a door-sized hole in the impregnable oaken gates. "There's your entrance."

"Then let's go!" Mario stepped through the impromptu doorway with Quicksilver right behind him.

The interior of Wario's castle was predominantly stone. A large, dusty chandelier hung from the high ceiling of the anteroom, holding dozens of flickering candles. A few torches flamed from their wall brackets, casting a glow into the room.

"The treasure's probably locked up somewhere in the basement," Mario guessed. His voice echoed in the hollow room. "See a stairway going down?"

"It won't be that easy," Quicksilver cautioned. "A hoard as big as you say must be well guarded and certainly kept hidden. We'll have to scour the place thoroughly."

"You lead out, then," Mario requested.

Quicksilver silently moved forward, and Mario followed. There appeared to be four exits from the room they were in. One door was on a high balcony straight ahead, accessible only by a long staircase. The other three doors were on ground level—one on the left, one dead ahead, and one on the right. Quicksilver chose the one on the left.

Inside the door was a hallway, also of stone, with wooden doors along its walls. "I'll take the right," Mario offered, moving up to the first door on the right and trying the knob. It was locked. He looked up to see Quicksilver in front of him.

"They're all locked," Quicksilver reported. "I tried them all."

Mario was floored. "Man, you do that fast!"

"Just my style," Quicksilver answered. "Now come on. We have to try the other doors in the main room."

Reentering the main room, they chose the center door on the ground floor. That door led them down a short hall into what appeared to be Wario's gym. The muscular nemesis's treadmill, bench presser, and dumbbells sat in this mid-sized room, as well as a rock wall and a trampoline.

"So this is where Wario works out." Mario looked around the room. "Nothing for us here but a few hundred-pound weights. Let's keep moving."

They returned to the main room and entered the right-hand door. It led to a staircase going down into the dungeons.

"I think we've got what we want," Mario remarked as Quicksilver carefully stepped down the slippery stairs. "Just don't fall!"

Slowly the two reached the bottom of the stairs and moved forward into the dim stone dungeons beneath Wario's castle. Cold, foul water dripped from the ceiling and puddled on the floor, making their footing slippery still.

"I'll case the place," offered Quicksilver.

Mario nodded, and Quicksilver disappeared in a blur. He returned seconds later.

"There's one door that won't open."

"That's where Wario's treasure must be," Mario guessed. "Can you get us in?"

Quicksilver shook his head. "No."

"You can't just cut through it like you did the gate?"

"The door is solid steel, Mario. My halberd is sharp, but not _that_ sharp."

"Is there a keyhole?"

"No."

Mario sighed. "Wario must have a switch in this place that opens that door. Guess we'll have to find it before we can get inside."

"Then we'll find it," Quicksilver concluded. "It must be upstairs somewhere."

They returned to the main lobby and climbed the steps to the balcony, then entered the door at the balcony's end. The hall beyond made a sharp left turn and ran straight for some distance. Many side halls branched off from the main corridor down which Mario and Quicksilver were walking. The partners ignored the detours and pressed straight ahead.

A wooden door blocked their path at the hall's end. Mario turned the knob cautiously. It was not locked. Stealthily he pushed the door open a little and peered inside.

Immediately his ears caught the sound of a televised sports event. From the rough sounds of grappling and struggling, he guessed that wrestling was on the TV. The room was rather dim, as all the lights were off, and Mario could see the electron glow of the television screen casting its haze over the room. Sticking his head into the room, he saw Wario to his left. The chubby muscleman had his back to Mario. He was lying on a sagging leather couch, his head hanging over the sofa's arm, one arm trailing on the floor. The snoring was deafening. Half a pepperoni pizza sat cold on the small table between the couch and the TV, and seven empty pizza boxes lay scattered around the couch.

"Looks like someone went on a pizza binge," Mario whispered to Quicksilver. "He's out cold on his sofa. Probably overstuffed. He won't wake up for hours."

"I'll go in and scour the place," volunteered Quicksilver. "The switch might be hidden in here."

Like a silent ghost Quicksilver flashed to the other side of Wario's room and crouched against the wall, scrutinizing everything. Wario was still sound asleep.

There was a desk behind Quicksilver as he faced Wario. Turning, he saw the desk and quietly investigated it. He carefully opened each drawer in turn and removed every last paper from them, but no switch was to be found. Then he checked under the phone, felt around the desk's legs, and ran his fingers over every inch of the desk.

"Nothing," he whispered as loudly as he dared. Mario acknowledged with a nod.

Quicksilver stealthily crept over to Wario's sofa and examined it as closely as possible. Still no switch. Then he slipped around the sleeping Wario and lifted the pizza boxes so as to check the table. Not finding anything there, he turned to the TV, which also yielded no results.

Having checked the entire room, Quicksilver headed for the door. A paper on the floor caught his eye. It was one of the hundreds of sheets he had emptied from Wario's desk. He picked it up, his quick mind recognizing it as a blueprint.

Mario waved frantically for him to return. He flashed back to the plumber, who then quietly shut the door.

"What'd you find?" Mario asked.

"A blueprint of the castle," Quicksilver answered. "This thing should give us an idea of that switch's location. All blueprints show electrical outlets and fixed appliances like ceiling fans. A fixed switch shouldn't be too hard to find." He ran his finger over the diagram.

"What's this?" Mario asked suddenly, pointing to a small _X_ in one room. "The note next to it says something about a door."

Quicksilver peered at the writing. "Looks like Wario tried to erase it, but yes, whatever is in that spot opens a door somewhere in the castle. And this room it's in looks like the gym."

"Then come on!" Mario exclaimed, taking off toward the main room. They returned to the main floor and reentered the gym.

"It's over here," Mario said aloud, leading the way across the rubber-floored gym to a bare space between the benchpresser and the exercise bike. He got down on his knees and probed the floor with his fingers.

Quicksilver tapped him on the shoulder. "Try looking up instead."

Mario did so. There, stuck to the ceiling, was a blue block with an exclamation point inside its translucent frame.

"Aha!" Mario exclaimed. "Gotcha!" He crouched, backflipped, and kicked off the gym wall, striking the block with his fist as he did so. He landed beside Quicksilver with a dull thud.

From somewhere in the castle came a rumbling that made the gym tremble slightly.

"We're in," Mario announced. "Let's go get that artifact!"

Speedily he and Quicksilver left the gym and descended into the dungeons again. Quicksilver led the way to the impenetrable steel door. It was wide open. The two stepped into the room beyond it.

Mario's eyes were dazzled by the incredible wealth. Heaps upon heaps of gold and gems, hundreds of overflowing treasure chests, rare and valuable items, statues, crowns, gilded robes, monstrous piles of gold and silver bullion, and much more glittered before Mario and Quicksilver, dazing them with the sheer size of the cache. It seemed they stood on the shore of an ocean of gold.

"Incredible," murmured Quicksilver. "To think one man could amass such wealth in one lifetime..."

"It's huge," Mario breathed. "Where do we start?"

Someone behind him snickered. "Just turn around, Slick, and I'll _show_ you where!"

Slowly Mario turned around. He glared at the white-sheeted doppelganger before him.

"Doopliss."

Doopliss grinned. "Long time no see, Slick!"


	10. Dueling Drums

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the late update; finals consumed my life for the first half of the month. We'll be back on track from here on in. As always, enjoy!

* * *

Mario quickly assumed battle stance. "I don't want to start this off by fighting you, Doopliss. So get lost before I have to!"

"Nyuk nyuk nyuk!" laughed Doopliss. "'Fraid you don't quite understand, Slick. The only reason I'm here is to lay the smackdown on you—for the Empress!"

"And she was a fool to send you out here alone against _me_," Mario commented dryly.

Doopliss snickered. "Heh, you're still dumber than dumb, 'O Great Legendary Hero.'" He raised his voice. "SIC 'IM, GUYS!"

Instantly a dozen Doopliss-like white-sheeted creatures rushed into the room from behind Doopliss and surrounded Mario and Quicksilver. They had tufts of red hair atop their heads, whereas Doopliss wore a blue-and-red party hat, but other than that minor difference they were identical to the original. They all snickered at Mario.

"Wh-What? Who are _these_ guys?" exclaimed Mario.

"Say hello to the Duplighosts, Slick!" Doopliss announced with a smirk. "I found out I'm not the only one who can copy people. But I _am_ the best, so these guys are led by yours truly! And we're gonna knock you silly _now_, Mario—so get ready, 'cuz I'm comin' for ya! Duplighosts—ATTACK!"

As the Duplighosts closed in on Mario and Quicksilver, Quicksilver pushed Mario down to the floor and began spinning his halberd over his head, making that threatening buzzsaw sound. Doopliss's grunts backed off, and Doopliss himself stared at the silver-clad figure in shock. Slowly a grin spread across his face.

"...Well, well, lookie who we have here! Imperial greetings from the Empress, Quicksilver," Doopliss said with a snicker. "You here to help me pound this dumb plumber?"

"Stand down, Doopliss," Quicksilver responded, still spinning his double halberd. "You have no business here."

"Huh?" Doopliss spluttered, incredulous. "Hey, you're on my side! The Empress—"

"No such thing. Now back off before I slice you and your gang into pieces."

Doopliss was stunned. "...Quicksilver?"

"_Back off_, Doopliss."

"Looks like Fleetfoot here has turned traitor, guys," Doopliss announced to his gang. "He deserves a whipping, so let's give one to him and Mario too! ATTACK!"

"Stay down, Mario," Quicksilver told Mario hastily. "I'll handle this."

As one the Duplighosts leaped into the air and hurled themselves headfirst at Quicksilver. The silver-clad figure raised his spinning halberd over his head, and the Duplighosts struck it and were flung in all directions.

"No, no, not that way, you idiots!" Doopliss yelled. "Copy him and use his own attacks against him! C'mon, morons, THINK!"

The Duplighosts all turned into exact copies of Quicksilver and began advancing toward the original again. The real Quicksilver stopped spinning his halberd and stood his ground, grasping his weapon in both hands. Together the Quicksilver clones swung their own halberds at him.

In one superfast sweep Quicksilver parried all twelve halberd strokes with his own, then smashed one of the clones backward into the wall of the treasure chamber, breaking his neck.

"Hmph, this is rather dull," Quicksilver remarked as he flashed around behind another clone and hacked him in half. "These Duplighosts of yours are too slow, Doopliss."

The remaining ten Quicksilver copies abruptly burrowed into the heaps of gold that filled the room.

"Ah, now _this_ makes things interesting," added Quicksilver, experimentally stabbing his halberd into a pile of treasure. "Ready or not, here I come!"

Mario watched as Quicksilver combed the mounds of wealth for the vanished clones. Suddenly two arms wrapped themselves aroud his throat from behind, choking him. He gagged and struggled.

"Let your guard down, huh, Slick?" Doopliss snickered from behind him. "Now it's just you and me, and this time I'm not losing!"

"We'll see, Doopliss," choked out Mario and stomped on Doopliss's toes. The doppelganger yelled and let go of Mario, clutching his throbbing toes and hopping up and down in pain.

"YEEEOWCH! THAT HURTS!"

"It should," Mario retorted. "It's supposed to." He wound up and slugged Doopliss in the stomach, sending him headfirst into a pile of gold.

Doopliss pulled his head out of the heap of coinc and focused on Mario. His eyes gleamed red, and he vanished in a puff of purple smoke, leaving behind an exact copy of Mario himself.

"Now let's see you beat me, Slick! You're fighting yourself!" taunted Doopliss-turned-Mario. "I'm such a super GENIUS!"

"Oh, so now it's 'super genius,' is it?" asked Mario sarcastically. "Last time it was just 'genius,' and I really don't think your I.Q. has improved _that_ much."

Doopliss pulled out a large wooden hammer and brandished it threateningly.

"Hey, no fair!" exclaimed Mario. "How can you copy a hammer when I don't have my hammer with me?"

"Heh, I've been training for this, Slick," Doopliss snickered. "How about this?" A long yellow cape appeared on his back.

"Cheater!" cried Mario. "That's my Magic Cape!"

"Nyuk nyuk!" taunted Doopliss. "Now I can copy any old move you've ever made, Slick. Practice makes perfect!"

"I'll still take you down, Doopliss," Mario challenged him.

"Yeah, sure, Slick, like I'm gonna believe you!" Doopliss launched himself into the air and flew over Mario's head using the Magic Cape, swinging his copied hammer into Mario's face and flooring the plumber.

The next thing Doopliss knew Mario was actually sitting on top of him as he flew through the air. "Huh? H-How'd you do that?"

"It's called a backflip," Mario answered curtly. "Time for you to get _yours_, Doopliss!"

Mario ripped the cape off Doopliss-turned-Mario's shoulders, dropping both hero and doppelganger onto the mounds of treasure. He held Doopliss pinned while he wrenched the hammer out of his hands.

Doopliss cringed. "Ack! No—don't kill me! N-Nooo!"

"I'm not going to," Mario informed him, "but I _am_ going to give you a beating you'll never forget!" He brought the hammer down on Doopliss's head.

"YEOW!" yelped Doopliss, reverting to his normal white-sheeted forn. "STOP!"

Mario hit him again.

"YEEEEEEEEOWW!"

Doopliss hollered one last time and slumped down into the piles of gold, unconscious.

Mario batted the limp Doopliss out the treasure chamber door with the hammer. The Quicksilver clones popped out of the heaps of gold, turned back into normal Duplighosts, and ran out of the room after Doopliss.

"And good riddance," Quicksilver flung after them.

Mario faced Quicksilver. "I think you've got some explaining to do," he said seriously.

Quicksilver sat down on a closed treasure chest half-buried in gold coins. "...I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you this, but Doopliss took the lid off the can of worms, so to speak." He sighed. "Yes, I used to work for Cyanara."

Mario said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"I just...couldn't stomach her associates. All of them disliked me from the start, and the tensions only grew worse as time went on. In the end I left, and I promised myself I'd do anything I could to get back at her deluded assistants."

"So this is more of a revenge thing for you than anything?" questioned Mario.

"My personal vendetta," Quicksilver acknowledged. "It drives me on. And someday...someday I'll get rid of every last one of those maniacal—" He caught himself and took a deep breath, trying to relax his tense muscles.

"Quicksilver," Mario began, "if you're telling me the truth... I really don't have room in this quest for a person who's just out for petty revenge."

"They're evil," Quicksilver said emphatically, "and I'm going to stop them."

"What about Cyanara herself?" Mario asked pointedly.

Quicksilver, for the first time, was at a loss for words. "...Personally I never had a problem with _her_—I mean, she was pleased with me and was very supportive of my efforts," he finally admitted, "but...now that I think back, that was only the surface... I remember thinking she had some ulterior motive in all of it..."

Mario nodded. "This isn't a fight against a person, Quicksilver, although even I would like my own revenge on Cyanara and her servants. This is a fight against a force—the force of evil. So are you in this for revenge...or for what's right?"

Quicksilver slowly rose to his feet and met Mario's gaze squarely. "For what's right."

Mario smiled.

"Now come on; we've got to find that third artifact. Let me check with the Aeshma Sword. If it refuses to point toward the artifact, we're really close to it." Mario laid the Aeshma Sword flat in his hands and waited.

Suddenly the Sword floated up from his hands and pointed straight to the back of the room—north still. Mario stared at it in disbelief.

"we were wrong," he said at last, taking the Sword out of mid-air and sheathing it again. "It's not here. The Sword wasn't pointing _into_ Wario's castle—it was pointing _through_ it."

"All that work for nothing, huh?" asked Quicksilver stoically. "Oh, well, we keep going anyway. Lead out."

Mario led the way up to the main lobby and back outside, into the forest. He and Quicksilver took to the trail again, threading along the narrow path as they trekked ever northward. It was dark outside by this time. The sun had set, and Wario's Woods was even gloomier than ever. Mario had to strain his eyes to see any distance ahead through the thick shadows.

"At least the spiders aren't out at this time of night," Mario remarked. His shoe abruptly squashed something.

"Yuck!" Mario exclaimed, pulling his foot out of a now-smashed jumbo spider. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Got one over here, too," Quicksilver added, wiping the yellow spider mush from his silver boot.

Mario felt something brush against his ankle and instinctively pulled away. "Another over here!"

Suddenly Mario felt his ankles surrounded by a living, writhing mass of _something_. He froze and lit a fireball in his right hand. In the brief second that the fireball burned, Mario saw what was encompassing his feet.

"They're everywhere!"

"Ouch!" Quicksilver exclaimed as one of the spiders bit his leg. He cut it in two with his halberd. "Don't just stand there, Mario—run!"

"Easy for you to say!" Mario yelled back as he fought the creatures off his legs. "Yeowch!"

Suddenly Quicksilver was at Mario's side, pushing him forward. Mario found his feet at last and began running as fast as he could down the trail. The horde of spiders followed, biting at the duo's heels.

"Why don't you just pick me up and run?" cried Mario to his partner.

"You'd burn up from the friction, just like a meteor burns up in the air as it falls!" Quicksilver answered, easily keeping pace with Mario's running speed. "I can take that heat, but you can't!"

"Then quit talking and RUN!" Mario yelled.

Just as Quicksilver was about to rocket down the trail at his near-light speed, both he and Mario were suddenly snapped up into the air, dangling over the trail by ropes knotted about their ankles. Quicksilver accidentally dropped his halberd, and it fell into the mass of spiders teeming a few feet below them.

"Uh, Quicksilver?" Mario said at last.

"Snares," Quicksilver groaned. "And I lost my halberd so I can't cut us free."

"So how do we get down? I mean, my head is starting to _really_ not like being upside-down," Mario grunted, feeling the blood rushing into his head as he hung by his ankle.

"...That won't be a problem," Quicksilver replied slowly. "Look."

The two upside-down partners looked far down the darkened trail and saw hundreds of tiny rhythmically-bobbing lights slowly coming toward them.

Mario stared at the lights. "Torches."

"Whoever they are, they'd better hurry," Quicksilver noted with a false nonchalance, "because those spiders down there are starting to climb the trees, and any minute now they'll be dropping onto us from above."

"veeeery comforting," Mario replied with a roll of his eyes. "Either we get eaten alive by jumbo-sized bugs or we get captured by who-knows-what. It's great to know we have such good options."

As the torches came closer, Mario and Quicksilver heard chanting. They strained to make out the words but could not. Apparently the chanters were speaking in some foreign tongue.

Suddenly a spear whizzed past Mario's ear, and he involuntarily jerked his head aside. "Great, they're shooting at us. I love it when that happens!"

"Really?" inquired Quicksilver.

"NO! LOOK OUT!"

Another sharp spear shot past Quicksilver's leg. "At least their aim is rather off," he commented hopefully.

"Drop the pointless chit-chat and GET US DOWN!" yelled Mario. "My head is killing me!"

Before Quicksilver could reply, the torch-bearers came up to them, holding their flaming torches high to light the surrounding forest. In the flickering light Mario could see that they were Shy Guys, hundreds of them, all wearing grass skirts and facial paint. Some had feathers strapped to their foreheads, the plumes waving in the air. All of them carried spears. The group of savages stared at Mario and Quicksilver in silence.

"Uh... Hi," Mario said at last.

The leader of the group pointed at Mario with his spear. "It beum him! Takem chief!"

"You speak English?" asked Mario, surprised.

Suddenly the army of Shy Guys swarmed forward, hurling spears at an alarming rate directly over Mario and Quicksilver. The rain of spears scattered the mass of spiders.

"They must be trying to cut the ropes," Quicksilver called to Mario over the shouting Shy Guys. "I just hope they don't throw too low—whoa!"

A spear cut cleanly through the rope holding Quicksilver, and he dropped painfully to the trail below. Mario was sprawled out beside him a few moments later. Both of them lay on their stomachs in the dirt, stunned by the fall. Quicksilver, however, had the presence of mind to grab his halberd, retract its blades, and replace it beneath his vest.

The Shy Guys now swarmed around them, pulling them to their feet and tying their hands behind their backs. Mario and Quicksilver were hustled down the trail away from Wario's castle in the direction the tribesmen had come from.

"This is like a bad dream," Mario commented grimly, watching the shadows of the trail dance in the flickering torchlight.

"One we won't be waking up from, either," added Quicksilver. "At least they aren't hurrying us too fast."

"Are you kidding? I can barely keep up without falling on my face!"

"You forget I can run at near-light speed. This is slow-motion to me."

"...Oh."

On they went, hurried along by their savage captors through the now-overgrown trail. Thorns caught the legs of Mario's overalls frequently, not painfully thanks to the tough denim, but stickily enough to make onward travel difficult. They brushed right over Quicksilver's silver boots, however. This thorny method of travel continued for a quarter of an hour.

Abruptly the trail terminated in a wide clearing ringed by flaming torches. Hundreds of painted-and-feathered Shy Guys in grass skirts also circled the clearing, standing between the torches. Each had three drums, beating them in a haunting, throbbing rhythm, combining with the dancing shadows and the cold moonlight for an eerie effect that made Mario's hair stand on end.

"Man, that drumming could get on a guy's nerves after a while," Mario muttered as he and Quicksilver were led to the center of the clearing.

Suddenly a monstrous shape loomed out of the torchlight at the far end of the clearing. A dozen tribal Shy Guys were bearing forward a largs stone object, its identity indiscernible in the shadows of the flickering light. Mario and Quicksilver, still held by their captors, watched as the Savage Guys slowly lowered the ponderous object to the grass and scurried away to resume their places in the ring of torches. The drumming increased to a frenzied pitch, growing faster by the moment.

"I'm starting to not like the looks of this," Quicksilver muttered to Mario.

"I didn't like it from the beginning," Mario muttered back.

The drumming was now a torrent of hysteric pounding. Howls and other haunting cries rang from the throng that lined the clearing, reverbating in Mario's head until he felt he could take no more. Suddenly two giant torches on opposite sides of the large stone object burst into flames, illuminating the stone and revealing it to be a throne of sorts. On this throne sat the biggest Shy Guy Mario had ever seen, easily five times larger than the average Shy Guy. He was dressed in red with green paint streaking his white facemask. His large grass skirt had obviously been custom-tailored to accomodate his massive girth. He frowned and put up his hand.

Instantly the drumming stopped.

During the minute of surreal silence that followed, Mario saw something on the massive throne. The torches' uneven light revealed a five-line inscription on the throne's base. He strained to make out the words.

_Eternal dark,_

_Masterful light -_

_Both lie in thee._

_Learn thou thy way_

_And save that life._

The words _that life_ clicked in Mario's brain. "'That life'—it's a continuation of the inscription I found with the Amrita Sphere, the one that talked about the 'fated life'!" he whispered to himself. "Somehow I get the feeling these inscriptions were meant for me, but—"

Something else caught his eye. There, pressed into the granite beside the inscription, was a green leaf.

"CHIEF GUY, OO-HA!"

The sudden shout of the Savage Guy throng startled Mario out of his thoughts. He looked up to see the big Shy Guy staring down at him. Finally the Shy Guy spoke.

"You Mario." His deep bass voice made shivers run down Mario's spine.

"Uh, yeah, I'm Mario."

"Me Chief Guy."

_Chief Guy._ The name, combined with the looks of the imposing chief, suddenly made Mario recognize him.

"Hey, I know you! You're—"

"YOU QUIET! NO TALK!" bellowed Chief Guy.

Mario obeyed—fast.

"Me lookum for you long time, Mario," began Chief Guy. "You heap big. Me bigger than you now. You no more kill Shy Guy. Me makem sure you no kill more Shy Guy."

"What?" Mario exclaimed. "No no no, you don't understand! I—"

"NO TALK!" roared the chief.

Mario shut up. It was obviously useless to argue.

"Men," ordered Chief Guy, "you takem Mario and friend, get wood, tie them. We makem big bonfire, burn Mario and friend! Then them no more kill Shy Guy!"

"OO-HA!" shouted the Savage Guys, rushing to do their chief's bidding.

"Please, Chief Guy," Mario pleaded, "can I explain?"

Chief Guy looked sourly at Mario.

"I don't hurt good Shy Guys! Just the bad ones that help guys like Bowser!"

"You... You kill Shy Guy!" Chief Guy argued.

"No, no," Mario hastened to say, "only _bad_ Shy Guys."

Chief Guys frowned, growing impatient.

Mario grew desperate. Obviously the chief was not taking his word for it. An idea struck him, an idea related to his previous acquaintance with the chief.

"Chief Guy," he suddenly asked, "do you like drumming?"

The big chief's eyes lit up. "Me likem drum!" He smiled.

"I can drum too."

"You...know how drum?" questioned Chief Guy, puzzled.

"Yes," Mario replied. "Why don't we see who's better—me or you?"

"You want drum, me drum too?"

Mario nodded. "If you win, you can burn us if you like. If I win, you let us go, and—"

Chief Guy hung on Mario's words.

"—You give me that leaf on your throne."

"YOU WANTUM CHIEF GUY'S LEAF?" roared the chief in outrage.

"Don't worry," Mario replied, "you're better than me, right? You'll win, right?"

Chief Guy narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. The Savage Guys returned with the wood, and the chief held up his hand.

"No burnum Mario yet! Me, him—we drum!"

Loud shouts broke out, eventually settling into a throbbing "OO-HA! OO-HA!" as Chief Guy brought out his large drums and settled them before him. One of the Savage Guys cut the ropes around Mario's wrists and handed him a set of three drums. Mario set the tall drums in front of him and stood ready.

"I can't believe you're actually doing something as crazy as this," Quicksilver said aloud.

"Hey," Mario replied, turning to look at his partner, "I've been in crazier jams than this."

"You'd better win."

Mario nodded. "I plan to."

Chief Guy pounded on his drums for silence. "Now—WE DRUM!"

The Savage Guys gave one last throaty shout to signal the drumming duel's start.

"OO-HA!"


	11. Yes, Love Brings Trust

Raising one hand high, Chief Guy began the drum duel by pounding once on the left-hand drum. Mario grinned and repeated the pattern, adding one note on top of it by striking the right-hand drum. Chief Guy then added another note with the center drum.

"Just like _Simon Says_," Mario said to Quicksilver as he took his turn and added yet another note.

Chief Guy's turn. Now Mario's turn. Chief Guy again. Mario again. Back and forth the two went, the progression of notes getting longer and longer with each passing turn.

"How does he remember all of those notes in the right order?" wondered Quicksilver.

Chief Guy took his turn again, but this time he added _two_ notes.

"_Now_ this is getting interesting," Mario chuckled as he added _three_ notes to the sequence.

Chief Guy grew a little red in the face and added four _more_ notes.

"This is getting tense," Quicksilver mumbled and swallowed hard. The Savage Guy guarding him poked him with his spear to make him be quiet.

On the duel went. Mario added five notes, Chief Guy six, Mario seven, and so on it continued, until the tension in the air was so thick the spectators could nearly taste it. Eight, nine, ten, eleven, _twelve_ new notes at once, and still neither Mario nor Chief Guy missed a beat.

After half an hour of drum-pounding the note count had topped one hundred. Still both sides were going strong, although Mario was sweating rivers and Chief Guy was heaving exhausted gasps. One hundred twenty-seven, one hundred forty-three, on the count climbed.

Over _two hundred notes_, and _still_ neither Mario nor Chief Guy had gotten a single note wrong. Chief Guy, up on his throne, glared down at his opponent. "You...heap good drums!" he wheezed, adding another 21 notes to the 217 already in place.

Mario wiped the perspiration from his face with his sweat-soaked sleeve and grinned up at Chief Guy. "Let's see you match this, chief!"

The plumber climbed up on top of his drums.

Quicksilver stared. "Mario, are you _crazy?_"

"Call me what you like," Mario called back. Then he sprang into the air, landed on the drum heads, and _danced out_ all 238 notes with his feet.

Chief Guy and all the Savage Guys stared at Mario as he finished his feat and hopped to the ground. The big chief grunted.

"You cheat, Mario!"

"Nope," Mario answered. "The rule is that the other guy has to copy whatever you do with your drums, right?"

Chief Guy growled. "I beat you now, Mario. You dance drums—ME dance drums!"

Ponderously Chief Guy lifted his bulk atop his three massive drums.

"Remember, you have to copy my starting jump, too," Mario reminded him.

"Me beat you, Mario!" repeated Chief Guy. Then he jumped up, slammed down onto his drums, and completely demolished them with his amazing weight. He groaned as he lay amidst the ruins of his instruments.

"Game over, Chief Guy," Mario announced. "I win."

"You...You trick me!" protested Chief Guy.

"Not at all," Mario replied firmly. "Rules are rules, and I played fair."

Chief Guy slowly rose to his feet, towering to his full ten-foot height. "No burnum Mario," he proclaimed. "He win, he go free and friend too. We makem deal."

"And the leaf..." Mario reminded him.

Grunting, Chief Guy peeled the leaf from the front of his throne and handed it to Mario. "Here. Takem Chief Guy's leaf."

"Thanks," Mario said gratefully, pocketing the item. "Do you mind if we sleep here with your people, Chief Guy? We mean no harm."

Chief Guy frowned and seated himself on his throne again. "Me trust you?"

"Yes, Chief," Mario affirmed. "We're on a quest to save all people, yours included."

"You...protect my people too?"

Mario nodded.

"Then you stay," the chief said emphatically. "You friend of Shy Guy Tribe. You sleep here."

"Thanks, Chief," Mario repeated. "Good night."

Mario and Quicksilver moved to the edge of the clearing and stretched out under the stars. The Savage Guys left the torches burning around the clearing's edge and lay down themselves in its center.

"Strange," Quicksilver said quietly. "We go from bonfire fuel to honored guests. How did you get so _good_ with drums?"

"Castle party," Mario replied. "Chief Guy and a few of his braves were there and hosted a drumming contest as one of the games. It worked pretty much like the duel you just saw."

"And that leaf—why were you so adamant about getting it?"

Mario brought the leaf out of his pocket and fingered it. "Tell me what's unique about this leaf."

Quicksilver frowned. "...It's just a leaf," he finally managed.

"Not just any leaf. Look at it—it's still soft and green," Mario said, flexing the leaf. "It was embedded in that rock for who knows how long and it's still green. That's not natural."

Quicksilver shoved his hand beneath his vest, the darkness concealing his motion.

"Embla," he suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?"

"Embla," Quicksilver repeated. "I read about that leaf once. The magical leaf that never fades. Supposedly it's just a legend, but—Mario—"

"This is the third artifact," Mario finished. "I knew it. I just knew it."

"The Embla Leaf is real," Quicksilver breathed. "Incredible."

Mario lay silently, still fingering the Embla Leaf. At last he pocketed it again, relaxed, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The whip bit into the back of the black-coated Shy Guy, making him yell in pain.

"Move faster!" screeched Zaron as the Shy Guy wobbled unsteadily under his heavy load of rocky rubble. He turned to the red-clad, silver-armored guard beside him. "Don't let these fools slack off! The artifact must be found with all speed!"

The Paroidian Guard nodded wordlessly, watching the long line of laboring Shy Guys like a hawk.

Zaron turned and swept away through the dimly-lit underground cavern, picking his way between boulders and across small subterranean streams. At last he reached the cave's massive south wall, a towering mass of virgin sandstone. No longer was its smooth face unmarred, for hundreds of the cave's inhabitants—the black-coated Gloom Guys—were hard at work chipping into the solid rock, emptying the bits of cut stone into large sacks, and hauling the rubble to the other side of the vast cave.

Zaron stepped up to the Empress and bowed.

"The work is proceeding well," Cyanara said aloud as she watched the destruction of the rock face. "Who would have thought the artifact would be found _here_, beneath Toad Town?"

"Your guards are keeping the workers well under control, O Great One," Zaron informed her.

"Good." Cyanara continued to gaze at the toiling Gloom Guys. "Quite a hard-working bunch. It's a pity they'll all have to be—"

A shout came from the quarry at the rock face. One of the Gloom Guys held up a piece of metal.

"They've found it," Cyanara said quickly. "Come, Zaron!"

She and Zaron hurried to the scaffolding built against the sheer sandstone wall and climbed rapidly to the sixth floor. The Gloom Guy handed Cyanara the piece of metal he had found.

Cyanara's eyes lit up. "It's a steel breastplate—not even rusted!"

"Amazing," Zaron rasped. "Ordinary steel would have decayed into dust long ago. Certainly this is an artifact!"

Cyanara, feasting her eyes on her prize, discovered an engraving on the inside of the breastplate. It read _Goibniu_.

"So this is the Goibniu Armor," she murmured.

Suddenly two voices echoed through a tiny receiver in the Empress's ear. She listened intently, and as she did, her face contorted with rage.

Cyanara stamped her foot on the wooden scaffolding, making the framework shiver, and gripped the Armor with a vengeance. "Curse that Mario!" she screamed. "Just as I get _my_ third artifact, _he_ gets _his!_ He's _somehow_ keeping up with me!"

"How... Who told you this?" queried Zaron.

Cyanara calmed herself a bit. "I've sent a spy to inform me of when Mario obtains new artifacts. He transmitted the information to me."

"An excellent plan, O Great One," Zaron congratulated her. "With knowledge of Mario's doings, we can lay a net for him that he'll never escape from!" He chuckled wickedly and rubbed his gnarled hands together, making a grating sandpaper sound.

Cyanara descended from the scaffolding with Zaron, trembling in anger. On impulse she threw up her hand and barked a command through the cavern to her guards, pouring her unleashed rage and hatred into the order.

"Kill them all!"

Screams rang through the cavern as the Paroidian Guards drew their swords. Cyanara smiled an evil smile as her small army advanced on the retreating Gloom Guys. One by one the doomed workers were cut down. From children to the aged, none were spared. Screaming and wailing filled the cavern.

"Come, Zaron," Cyanara said at length. "I grow tired of watching this sport. We return to the Crystal Palace immediately."

Zaron bowed. "Yes, O Great One."

* * *

"...zzzz...zzzzz...zzzz..."

Mario turned over in his sleep. The ground was less than comfortable. He snored on.

"...zzzz...zzzz..."

Slowly, silently, a stealthy shadow slipped through the circle of burning torches. It moved hesitantly across the open clearing, avoiding the sleeping Savage Guys, and slowly approached Mario. The torchlight caught, for a brief instant, a fearful face shadowed by a gray hood.

It was the girl in gray.

She stopped only a foot from Mario's sleeping form. Her dark eyes regarded the plumber with a sort of fearful apprehension. Ever so slowly she knelt next to him and with trembling fingers reached for the overalls pocket containing the Sphere and Leaf.

"...zzzz..."

The girl jerked her hand away, startled. Mario rolled over, taking his pocket and its precious contents out of her reach.

"...zzzz..."

Trembling still, the girl reached for Mario's other pocket, the left one. Her slender fingers slipped into the pocket and withdrew a small golden ring, set with a glittering diamond. She held it up to the torchlight, not daring even to breathe, staring in perplexity at the ring.

"It's no artifact," she whispered, "but what is it?"

She started again as Mario rolled over once more, and, looking quickly down at him to make sure he was still asleep, she spied a glint of gold on Mario's right hand. Bending closer, she saw that it was an exact duplicate—without the diamond—of the ring she held in her hand.

Slowly she grasped the meaning of the two rings.

"This man...Mario...he...he loves?"

She looked into his face. Mario was peacefully asleep, his expression quiet and trusting. She felt strangely drawn to that peacefulness, yet could not fully grasp its meaning.

"...Does love...bring trust?"

The girl in gray suddenly turned away from Mario and wept into her delicate hands, her frail shoulders heaving with silent sobs.

"They...they all betrayed me..." she sobbed in a whisper. "I-I can't trust anyone...not even him... I have to stop him!"

Then she looked back at Mario's face, and her resolve wavered. "But...what if he can be trusted?" she asked through her tears.

Gently she laid the diamond ring on the ground beside Mario. Then fear seemed to seize her anew, and she quickly rose to her feet, the tears streaming down her face. She fled into the forest, weeping.

* * *

"Mario..."

The word drifted through Mario's sleep-fogged mind.

"Mario, wake up."

Mario felt his shoulder being jostled. Looking up through sleepy eyes, he saw Quicksilver bending over him, shaking him awake. He groaned and stretched.

"Oh, man, sleeping on the ground—ouch," he grunted as his back began protesting its uncomfortable position on the uneven ground. He sat up slowly, casting a groggy look at his watch. His eyes widened.

"Five AM? Quicksilver—"

"Try getting up a little earlier," Quicksilver reprimanded him. "We could have been on our way by now."

"Hey, I always sleep 'til seven!" Mario got to his feet with a groan and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Mario, this so happens to be an emergency of sorts, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Besides, I already checked with the Aeshma Sword, and guess which way we're headed?"

Mario shrugged.

"West."

"What?" Mario exclaimed. "You can't be serious! Some of the most rugged terrain in the Mushroom Kingdom is west of here!"

"My point exactly," returned Quicksilver. "If we're going to make good distance over that terrain, we'll need all the travel time we can get."

"Guess you're right." Mario habitually shoved his hands into his pockets. Instantly he knew something was wrong.

"The ring! It's gone!"

"What ring?" queried Quicksilver.

"Peach's engagement ring!" Mario exclaimed as he fell to his knees and probed the grass with his fingers. "It must have fallen out of my pocket while I was asleep! No, I can't lose it!"

Quicksilver bent down and plucked a diamond ring from the grass by his feet. "This?"

Mario pounced on it. "That's it! Oh, thanks a _ton_, Quicksilver!" He shoved the ring back into his overalls pocket, where it belonged.

"Not a problem. Let's move out."

A shadow fell over the two, and they turned to see Chief Guy standing over them.

"Mario," the big chief asked, "you go now?"

"Yes," Mario affirmed.

"You...protect my people?"

Mario nodded. "I have to leave, Chief. Something big is coming to attack your tribe and all other tribes, and I have to go and stop it. Understand?"

Slowly the big, simple-minded chief nodded. "Where you go?"

Mario pointed west.

"Me sendum guide to help you find right trail," Chief Guy offered. He clapped his hands. Immediately every Savage Guy in the clearing bounded to his feet, sleep forgotten.

Chief Guy pointed to one of his warriors. "You go, help Mario findum right trail. He go toward setting sun."

The Savage Guy strode up to Mario and bowed. "I am Shyko'a. I will be your guide."

"Thanks," Mario replied, visibly impressed by the Savage Guy's mastery of English. "Goodbye, Chief, and thanks again!"

Chief Guy waved as Mario, Quicksilver, and their new guide Shyko'a left the clearing and forged into the dense forest growth.

"This way," called Shyko'a from the lead. "The westward trail is about a mile from here. If we hurry, we can get there in ten minutes."

"That's a pitifully slow rate of travel," Quicksilver grumbled as he pushed through the underbrush after the Savage Guy. Mario did not comment.

As they trekked west through Wario's Woods, Mario felt eyes staring at him. He looked around as nonchalantly as possible. No one was in sight but his two companions.

Then, just when he was about to give up looking, out of the corner of his eye he saw her. She was standing some distance from him, off in the trees. Her gray cloak's hood still shadowed her face, the face still filled with an incomprehensible fear.

Mario held up his hand, and the group stopped. He peered through the trees at the mysterious visitor.

"What is it?" asked Quicksilver quietly.

Mario pointed through the trees. "It's her. The girl in gray."

Quicksilver readied his halberd.

"No," Mario said quickly, laying a hand on Quicksilver's arm, "it's all right."

"You told me she tried to kill you before. What if she tries again?"

"I need to convince her that I'm not her enemy," Mario replied emphatically. "Stay here. I'm going to see if I can talk to her."

Mario stepped off slowly through the trees, being careful not to move to rapidly toward the easily-frightened girl. As he approached her, he saw her clutch her cloak more tightly about her and shiver violently. Yet she stood her ground.

"It's all right," Mario assured her quietly, advancing slowly toward her. "I won't hurt you."

The girl trembled, and her eyes widened in fear.

Mario stopped a few feet from her. He could hear her rapid, frightened breathing. He held out his hand in invitation.

"It's all right," he stressed again. "Just take my hand. No one's going to hurt you."

The girl stared at his hand in trepidation.

"Come on," Mario urged her.

She looked up at Mario's face, and he caught the indecision in her eyes. Slowly she reached her frail hand toward his. He nodded, silently encouraging the timid girl.

Suddenly she jerked back from him, and that wild, terrorized fear burst over her face again. Mario reached out to her, but she turned and fled into the forest with a single exclamation of fright.

"P-Penumbra!"

She vanished among the trees.

Mario watched her as she disappeared into the forest. A twinge of compassion for that bewildered young woman struck his heart as he rejoined his group.

_Somehow I'm going to show her that she doesn't need to be so scared,_ he told himself as he and his two companions moved on through the forest. _Somehow I've got to earn her trust._

Several minutes later they came to a dirt trail. "This is the westward trail," announced Shyko'a. "It runs north for a little distance, then turns west. Follow the path. It will lead you out of these woods and point you in the right direction."

"You're not coming any farther?" queried Mario in surprise.

"...I will travel with you for a little longer," relented Shyko'a, "but I must return to my family soon. They will be waiting for me."

"I wouldn't keep you from you family," Mario acquiesced. "You go on back. We'll make it on our own."

Shyko'a hesitated, then nodded briefly and disappeared back into the forest.

Mario and Quicksilver continued north on the trail for an hour as the sun rose over the gloomy forest, dispelling some of the shadows and brightening the woods a bit. Then, as their guide had said, the path bent to the west, and they followed it.

"Seems like most people think adventuring is exciting," Mario remarked as they trudged along, "and some of it is. But an awful lot of it is just plain _boring_."

"Like walking down trails for hours?" asked Quicksilver.

"Exactly."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about _that_ being 'boring,'" Quicksilver put in. "Take a good look ahead of us."

Mario halted beside his partner and peered down the trail. In the distance he saw several shadows crawling along the ground toward them.

"Looks like our spider friends are back," he quipped.

Quicksilver nodded. "We'll be ready for them this time."

"I'll hit 'em as they approach," Mario suggested, "and you take care of the ones that get close to us."

"Sounds like a plan. Here they come!"

Out of the thinning mist swarmed countless legions of the oversized arachnids, heading straight for Mario and Quicksilver. Mario immediately let his fireballs fly at the horde as fast as he could hurl them, crisping hundreds of the pests. Those spiders that evaded Mario's fireballs were easily dispatched by Quicksilver's sharp double halberd.

"What a bunch of easy kills," Quicksilver said aloud, "once we know they're coming."

"_And_ have a plan that doesn't include running into Savage Guy snares," added Mario.

In minutes the army of spiders was decimated, the few remaining pests fleeing into the forest. The duo continued westward.

"What if those spiders are an endangered species?" asked Quicksilver suddenly, a twinkle of humor in his eye.

"Only endangered?" exclaimed Mario. "I'd prefer them extinct, thank you!"

They laughed together. "Well, they're endangered now that we're through with them," Mario added, increasing the volume of the laughter.

After another hour of walking, the two noticed that the trees were thinning out, becoming fewer and fewer as they went. Soon they passed the last tree and were officially out of the woods.

A broad flat pain spread itself out before them, the wiry grass stripped away in spots to reveal the underlying shale that formed the plateau. In the distance Mario could see a tall mountain thrusting its peak up through the clouds.

"This ought to be easy to travel across," Quicksilver commented.

Suddenly there was an explosion nearby that showered him and Mario with dirt and rock. They looked around after the shower had ended, trying to find what had caused the explosion. Nothing was in sight.

"...Uh...let's go?" suggested Mario.

The two started forward across the wide plateau, wary of the ground. If the first explosion had come from below the ground, others might as well. Sure enough, a second explosion burst up through the rock and grass only a few feet away.

"What is going on here?" Mario asked in a near whisper, not sure if they were being watched or not.

The next instant a third explosion went off directly beneath Mario's feet, hurling him forward. He skidded to a stop on his side and slowly got to his feet again.

A hole now occupied the spot Mario had recently been in, and a blue Bob-Omb stood beside the hole. He looked quizzically at Mario.

"BOMB! Did I hurt you, KA-BOMB?"

"Nope," Mario replied. "I'm fine."

"Good, BOMB," responded the Bob-Omb. "Welcome to Bob-Omb Plateau, SHA-BOMB. We Bob-Ombs are excavating beneath this plateau to get at the crystal deposits, BOMB-BOMB. So watch out for bombs, BOMB!"

"Thanks for the warning," Mario said ruefully, rubbing a scratch on his ear. "We're headed west. Is there anything dangerous that way?"

The Bob-Omb looked alarmed. "West? The mountain over there is a volcano, SHA-PLOMB! It has been steaming lately, BOMB, and could go off at any minute, SHA-PLOWIE!"

"You don't understand," Mario countered. "If we don't get to that volcano, the world could end!"

The blue Bob-Omb was taken aback. "The world could end, KA-POWIE?"

"You heard me," Mario affirmed.

"In that case, BOMB-BOMB, we will help you all we can, BOMB!" decided the Bob-Omb. "I am Bombar, KA-PLOOMIE. Pleased to make your acquaintance, SHA-BOMB."

"I'm Mario, and this is Quicksilver," Mario said in introduction.

"Before you go to the volcano, BOMB," offered Bombar, "I would like to show you our dig site beneath this plateau, BOMB-BOMB. If you help us repair one of our machines, KA-BOMB, I'll help you get to the volcano, SHA-POWIE!"

"Sure thing," Quicksilver replied readily. "We've got time."

Mario elbowed him. "Look who's talking, Mr. Get-Up-At-Five-O'clock-So-We-Can-Travel-a-Long-Way-Today."

Quicksilver grinned. "Hey, why not?"

"I don't have anything against helping him out, and we need directions. But the minute he tries to sell us a guided tour or something like that, we're leaving," Mario warned him jokingly.

"Excellent, KA-PLOWIE!" exclaimed Bombar. "Follow me, BOMB!"

The blue Bob-Omb started off across the plateau, heading west. Mario and Quicksilver followed him as he marched along like a wind-up toy.

"Why don't we just go down the hole you blew up?" asked Mario.

"It's too small for you, SHA-BOMB," replied Bombar, still marching, "so I'm taking you to the entrance in Bob-Omb Canyon, KA-POWIE."

"And look who wanted to keep going west, Mr. Just-Found-Out-We're-Going-West-Anyway," Quicksilver needled Mario.

Mario feigned aloofness and kept his nose in the air.

Bombar led them across the plateau, distant explosions going off at scattered intervals and blasting rock and dirt into the air. None were close enough to do damage, though. Bombar seemed to have warned his comrades belowground about the visitors' presence. After half an hour of steady walking they reached the rim of a wide canyon that cut deeply into the sandy brown shale of the plateau.

"Here we are, KA-BOOMIE," announced Bombar cheerfully.

"Great. Now where do we go?" asked Mario, looking for a trail leading down to the canyon floor but finding none.

"Down," answered Bombar matter-of-factly.

"Are you saying we're supposed to—"

"Jump, BOMB!" called Bombar. He backed up and made a running leap into the canyon.

"He's crazy! He'll blow himself into a billion pieces when he hits bottom!" Mario exclaimed, watching Bombar plummet into the canyon.

Quicksilver easily picked Mario up. "Not so crazy as you might think. He knows what he's doing."

"H-Hey, commit suicide if you want to, but don't take me along for the ride!" protested Mario.

"Over you go!" announced Quicksilver and pitched Mario out into space. He himself leaped over the edge seconds later.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" yelled Mario as he plunged toward the rocky canyon floor. He stared in horror at the approaching ground below.

Suddenly he saw Quicksilver dive past him headfirst. Quicksilver flipped over to face Mario from beneath and maneuvered himself until he was directly below Mario.

"Dive!" he yelled.

Mario gulped and tipped himself from a spread-eagle position to a headfirst plunge, speeding up to an alarming drop rate. He was now falling faster than Quicksilver and soon was nearly on top of him.

Quicksilver reached up and grabbed Mario's arm. "Hang on!"

"Levitate! Do _something_ or we're gonna be roadkill when we hit!" Mario yelled.

"Don't worry about it," Quicksilver replied calmly. "Relax."

"Relax? Are you crazy?" screamed Mario. "We're both gonna DIE!"


	12. Rumblin' Volcano

"This is insane!" Mario yelled as he and Quicksilver plunged toward the rocky bottom of Bob-Omb Canyon. "We're goners!"

"Not by a long shot, Mario," Quicksilver chuckled. "Look down."

Mario did so. Below he and his partner was a huge net in which Bombar had already landed.

"You could have told me this _before_ you threw me over the edge!" Mario shouted.

"It wasn't there when I did," Quicksilver called back.

"Then how did you know it would be there?"

"I figured Bombar knew what he was doing, so I followed suit."

"You're crazy! You could have killed us both!"

They hit the net. It flexed beneath them and bounced them up into the air a few times. At last they came to a stop on the springy net.

"Well, I obviously _didn't_ kill us," concluded Quicksilver calmly. "That's all that really counts, isn't it?"

Mario just shook his head in disbelief and dropped from the net's edge to the ground. Quicksilver and Bombar followed him.

"See, I told you, BOMB!" exclaimed Bombar in glee. "And you were scared, KA-BOMB!"

"Listen, once I fell out of a spaceship above the clouds—_without_ a parachute," Mario informed the energetic Bob-Omb. "I don't care for long drops much."

"At least you're alive after your harrowing experience," Quicksilver pointed out. "Surely that counts for _something_."

Again Mario just shook his head.

"Come on, SHA-POWIE," called Bombar, beginning his march across the rocky ground toward the canyon wall. A wide tunnel had been bored into the hard shale of the wall, and Bombar headed straight for it. Mario and Quicksilver followed.

Soon they entered the tunnel. Their footsteps echoed in the hollow space.

"Hey, listen," Mario spoke up. The group cocked their ears. From somewhere far ahead of them they could hear the dull reverberations of powerful explosions.

"The mining crews are hard at work, KA-BOOMIE," explained Bombar. He lit his own fuse, shedding a light in the dark tunnel. "Follow me, BOMB!"

"...What happens when the fuse burns down?" Quicksilver asked cautiously. "Won't you blow us all to bits?"

"Don't worry, KA-PLOOM," replied Bombar, "we're not allowed to explode in this tunnel, BOMB-BOMB. If I did, the entrance might collapse and trap everyone inside, SHA-BOMB. I won't explode, KA-BOMB." He turned and started down the tunnel, his fuse lighting the way.

Mario kept a wary eye on that burning fuse as he and Quicksilver followed Bombar. He began to sweat as it slowly burned down to within an inch of Bombar's explosive little body. Closer it burned...closer... He held his breath as the flame touched Bombar.

Nothing happened. The fuse went out.

Bombar laughed as the tunnel plunged into blackness again. "Whoopsie! Need more fuse, SHA-PLOMB!" he chuckled as he fed more fuse out the top of his head and set it afire, relighting the tunnel. "There. Much better, KA-BOMB."

Mario let out his breath, relieved.

Using the light of his new fuse, Bombar led Mario and Quicksilver to the end of the tunnel. It ended in a natural cave lit by countless floodlights. Dozens of smaller tunnels branched out from the chamber in all directions.

"This is the mining zone, SHA-BOOMIE," announced Bombar over the echoing explosions in the smaller tunnels. "All of the crystals are blown out of the tunnel walls, KA-BOOM, and carried into this room for processing, SHA-PLOWIE."

"Just curious, Bombar," spoke up Mario, "but why mine crystals?"

"They are used for many things, BOMB, like watch faces and precision machine parts, KA-BOMB," replied Bombar. "We sell the uncut crystals to different companies, KA-POWIE. In fact, the Crystal Palace was built mainly with crystals that we mined, BOMB-BOMB, and has since iced over, SHA-BOMB," he finished proudly.

Mario looked at the pile of bluish crystals on the floor of the room. "Why aren't you processing these?"

Bombar looked troubled. "That's our problem, SHA-BOMB," he admitted. He jumped atop a large piece of machinery sitting nearby. "See, this machine sorts the crystals by size, KA-PLOMB, but it's not working any more, SHA-BOOM."

Mario walked up to the machine and took a good look at it. It was basically a two-sided ramp with a conveyor belt running up one side. The crystals were supposed to be loaded onto the conveyor, which carried them up to the top and dumped them down the ramp on the other side. A series of progressively larger holes in the bottom of the ramp allowed the smaller crystals to drop into crates first, then the bigger crystals, and so on until all were sorted automatically.

"The conveyor won't move," explained Bombar from atop the belt's highest point, "and we don't know why, BOMB!"

Mario peered into the conveyor's rollers. "Is this thing plugged in?"

"Yes, SHA-BOMB."

"Unplug it so I can take a look at this thing without getting electrocuted."

Bombar indicated the plug leading to the generator, and Quicksilver flashed over to it and yanked the plug out of the generator. "You're safe."

"Good," Mario said as he again looked inside the conveyor. He brushed a few small crystals out of the rollers and had Quicksilver plug the sorting machine back in. He flipped the switch; nothing happened. Quicksilver unplugged the machine again.

Now Mario examined the belt itself. Immediately he noticed a long crystal near the middle of the conveyor, sticking through the belt and apparently keeping it from turning by jamming against the rollers. Mario promptly removed the offending crystal and ordered the machine plugged back in.

To Mario's delight, the conveyor immediately began to spin at high speed. Bombar, standing atop the conveyor, was hurled across the cave by the force of the moving belt. He exploded upon striking the wall, showering rock out onto the floor and putting a dent in the cave wall. The blast sent Bombar flying across the room in the opposite direction. He crashed onto Mario and knocked him flat.

"Whoopee!" cheered the Bob-Omb while standing on Mario's chest. "It's working, KA-BOMB! I could explode with delight, SHA-PLOMB!" He lit his fuse.

"H-Hey, not on top of me!" yelled Mario, tipping Bombar off his chest and scrambling to his feet.

Bombar left a crater in the floor. "Yippee, BOMB! Now we can sort all of the crystals, KA-PLOW! And you two can help us load them onto the conveyor, right, SHA-POWIE?"

"Listen, Bombar," Mario began, "as much as I'd like to—"

Suddenly Mario got that feeling of being watched. He broke off mid-sentence.

"What is it, KA-BOMB?" inquired Bombar.

Slowly Mario turned around and looked at the entrance tunnel. There was no one there, but something white lay in the end of the tunnel. He dashed over and snatched it up. It was a note.

_Mario—I'm truly sorry for my actions this morning. You must understand that I can trust no one. I have been betrayed countless times by those closest to me and find it difficult to believe in anyone. Forgive me.—M_

"The girl in gray strikes again," Mario announced, holding up the note as he walked back toward Quicksilver.

Quicksilver scanned the note. "Quite the apology."

"She's had it rough, that's for sure," Mario concluded. "Betrayed over and over. No wonder she won't trust me."

"I still think she's a little too shady," Quicksilver put in with a frown. "She tried to—"

"She apologized for that!" Mario responded hotly. "And her actions lately indicate that she's starting to think I'm trustworthy. I'm going to give her a chance."

Quicksilver rolled his eyes and turned away.

"What is all this about, SHA-POWIE?" repeated Bombar.

"It's too long to explain," Mario replied briefly. "We need to leave no, Bombar, and head for the volcano. Can you guide us there now?"

Bombar shook his head. "We Bob-Ombs are not allowed near the volcano, KA-PLOWIE," he explained. "It's so hot it might blow us up for good, BOMB! But I will lead you out of the canyon and make it possible for you to get into the volcano, SHA-BOMB. I promised I would help you, and I will, KA-PLOW."

The enthusiastic Bob-Omb lit his own fuse again and marched back down the entrance tunnel, heading for the exit. Mario and Quicksilver followed.

"Here you are, SHA-BLOOMIE!" announced Bombar as they emerged into the sun-baked canyon. The sun was almost directly overhead, making Mario shield his eyes against its brightness.

"So how are we going to get out of the canyon?" asked Quicksilver.

"First, take this, BOMB." The blue Bob-Omb handed Mario one of the blue crystals from the mine. "If you throw this into the volcano, it will freeze the lava solid, KA-BOMB. Then you should be able to get in, SHA-POWIE." Bombar pointed to the left. A square shaft was cut into the ground several feet away. "Use the bomb cannon to shoot yourselves up to the edge of the canyon, BOMB-BOMB!"

Mario grinned. "Now _that's_ a good idea. I love these cannons." He strode up to the hole's edge and faced Quicksilver. "Just watch."

He jumped down the shaft. Seconds later a large black cannon barrel rose out of the shaft and aimed itself at the far rim of the canyon.

Quicksilver's eyes widened. "Is that thing going to—"

Mario shot out of the cannon barrel like a bullet, hurtling through the air in a graceful arc and landing safely on the canyon rim.

"Come on, your turn!" he hollered down to Quicksilver.

"...I think I'll pass," Quicksilver told Bombar. In a flash he was at the foot of the sheer canyon wall; then he floated right up the cliff face, landing beside Mario.

"Cheater," Mario joked.

Quicksilver laughed and waved down at Bombar. Mario waved too. Then the two started off across another grassy plateau toward the steaming volcano and the jungle surrounding it.

As they traveled westward, they noticed a dirt road running parallel to them some distance away. Without hesitation they turned toward it and began trekking down its length, knowing that time might be saved by using the road instead of pushing through natural barriers off-road.

Over an hour later they came to a crossroads at the edge of the plateau, just before they entered the jungle. A signpost was set up at the intersection, and Mario read it aloud.

"Mt. Fierno, west," he announced. "Must be the name of the volcano."

"A fitting name," added Quicksilver.

"Come on," Mario called, starting down the road leading west. Suddenly Quicksilver was far out in front of him on the jungle-lined path.

"Come on," Quicksilver repeated. "What's taking you so long?"

Mario laughed outright and dashed ahead. He caught up to his companion, and together the two continued on toward Mount Fierno.

The tall rocky cone loomed in front of them as they topped a small grassy knoll. Steam wafted from its crater. Mario strode up to the foot of the cone and laid a hand on the hardened ash covering its surface. He scanned the face of the volcano. Dark rivulets of cooled lava ran from the crater to the ground.

"Looks like it's still active," Mario remarked.

"And just waiting to erupt," Quicksilver added soberly. "You don't really intend to try getting _inside_ this red-hot mountain...do you?"

"Only the Aeshma Sword can answer that," replied Mario, laying the Sword flat across his palms. The blade did not respond.

Mario looked over his shoulder at Quicksilver. "There's your answer." He shoved the Sword back into its sheath.

"That's impossible," Quicksilver stated emphatically. "Any entrance you find will be a hot steam vent in the volcano's side. We'll be scalded to death if we go in through one of those."

"This is the Mushroom Kingdom, Quicksilver. Weirder things than finding a way into a live volcano have happened here." Mario peered up at the steaming crater. "Bombar says we can get in through the top."

Quicksilver shook his head in disbelief. "Believe him if you want to. You can burn yourself to a crisp if you'd like, but you won't catch _me_ doing the same."

Mario shrugged. "Fine. I'll go in by myself if you're so afraid."

"There's a difference between courage and foolhardiness, Mario, and I believe you possess the latter at this particular moment," Quicksilver warned him.

"I'll have the fourth artifact and be back here before the day's out," Mario informed his partner confidently, "and if you want to sit on the sidelines, fine. I'll see you before sundown."

Quicksilver snorted and turned away, obviously displeased with Mario's decision.

Mario backed up and ran at the volcano, bounding up its steep slope. Soon he slowed to a walk; then, as the hardened ash beneath his feet loosened, he dropped to his hands and knees, grasping the crags and crevices in the volcanic rock and crawling up the slope like a mountain climber. At last he reached the edge of the crater.

Mario grasped the crater's edge and pulled himself up to see into the steaming pit. He wiped the ash from his face, leaving a dark smudge across his forehead.

"Yeah, really looks like I can get in," he remarked sarcastically, staring down the steep inner wall of the crater at the bubbling lava below. "Looks more like I'll burn my toes if I go wading around in _that_."

A wave of hot fumes washed over his face. He gagged and fanned the air, trying to blow the noxious gases away. His eyes watered, and he shut them against the volcanic fumes.

The gas dissipated, and Mario could again breathe freely. He opened his eyes and rubbed them dry. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the crystal Bombar had given him.

"Guess we'll see if he was telling the truth," Mario said with a shrug and chucked the crystal out over the lava. It hit the surface with a distinct sizzling sound and slowly sank beneath the surface, sending up a huge plume of steam as it did so. The magma where the crystal had disappeared turned brown and cold. Gradually the effect spread all across the pool of lava until the entire crater was filled with a solid crust instead of liquid rock. Mario nodded in satisfaction.

"Well, guess that takes care of that." He vaulted over the crater's rim and planted his soles on the newly-formed crust of rock.

"Still doesn't seem that I can actually get inside," Mario remarked as he examined the rough surface beneath his feet.

A long, thin crack shot through his footing. Mario froze.

"Looks like this thing's kinda...thin?"

The rocky surface caved in, sending Mario tumbling, flailing backward, down into the volcano, accompanied by a shower of rock. Twenty feet later his back slammed into a narrow jut of rock protruding from the interior wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him. He felt the rock beneath him shearing and giving way, and he rolled to one side just before the end of the precipice dropped out of sight.

"Ohhhh, man...ouch..." Painfully he massaged his backside. "That could have been a bit softer..."

The pain subsided, and he got to his feet unsteadily. He peeked over the edge of the precipice and gulped at the treacherous spiral ledge that led down to the volcano's base more than three hundred feet below.

"Guess I'd better get moving," he said to himself, turning and stepping ever so carefully along the narrow precipice, making his way to the volcano wall. "That artifact's in here somewhere."

Reaching the interior wall, Mario began to descend the long spiral path that ringed the volcano's interior. As he went, the pathway grew increasingly narrow.

"Pretty soon there'll be nothing to walk on," he remarked grimly.

Suddenly he jumped backward as the rock in front of him cracked in two, leaving a gap in the path. He gulped. "And what's ahead isn't too stable, either. Better watch my step."

Cautiously Mario crossed the crumbling section of rock and continued on. Again the path before him split in two. This time an appreciable chunk of the pathway went tumbling into the bubbling lava far below. Mario stared after it.

"This is getting a little tense."

He hesitantly vaulted across the gap. As he landed the rock beneath him shuddered. Again he leaped forward. The section collapsed behind him.

Mario flattened himself against the wall, feet planted firmly on an apparently stable piece of roadway. He wasn't hankering for a dip in the lava. The magma hissed and sizzled hundreds of feet beneath him.

At last he felt secure and stepped away from the wall. Instantly his footing trembled violently. He plastered himself against the wall not a fraction of a second too soon. The entire pathway collapsed for a good distance ahead, leaving only an incredibly thin ridge where it had once been anchored to the wall.

Mario swallowed and started inching his way along the wall, gripping the rough rock behind him as he slid his shoes along in a sort of shuffling rhythm. One, two, one, two... Scoot the right foot a few inches to the right; bring the left up to meet it. One, two, one, two...

Abruptly the rock beneath his feet gave way, dropping him toward the lava below. Desperately he snatched at the rocks. His fingers seized the ridge he'd beed standing on. He hung there, suspended over the lethal drop.

"No way am I gonna be able to get back up," he realized in desperation. "I'm gonna have to cross on my fingers now!"

Slowly Mario relinquished his left hand's grip and stretched the hand to his left, gripping the rocky ridge further down. Then he pulled himself over to his left hand and repeated the process, inching his way toward the safer platforms ahead. His fingers began to tremble, barely able to keep their grip. His arms ached.

Finally he reached the end of the broken pathway and hauled himself up onto the platform at its end. He sank down against the interior wall to rest his aching limbs.

"...Help!"

Mario cocked his ears. "What was that?"

"Help!"

He scrambled to the platform's edge and peered down at the lava below. What he saw shocked him. There, some distance below him, was another platform, a cliff that reared up directly from the lava. A narrow shoal of rock was piled at its base, and atop this precarious shoal, just inches fom the deadly magma, was none other than the girl in gray. She hugged the cliff face with her back in sheer terror.

"It's her! It's the girl in gray!" Mario cast about the volcanic cavern for a viable route to the terrified girl. Finding one, he sped off down the spiral pathway again, leaping from platform to platform with incredible daring.

He reached a series of square platforms, columns of stone sticking out of the lava. Without hesitation he started to cross over them. They began to sink. He quickly leaped across the rapidly dropping columns and landed safely on the solid platform beyond them.

A long section of pathway broke off the wall in front of him and vanished into the ravenous lava. Immediately he performed a Long Jump, clearing the gap with ease. He was nearing the lava surface now. The heat was intense.

Abruptly the path terminated. Mario looked down and saw a series of small stepping stones leading to a low platform in the volcano's center. He lowered himself from the edge of the pathway by his fingers, then dropped to the first bit of rock. Immediately he felt it sink beneath him. He leaped from one stone to the next with surprising agility, not standing still for more than a moment to regain his balance. "These rocks sure aren't too steady," he remarked as he continued his game of leapfrog across the treacherous stones.

He reached the central platform. Instantly his eye was caught by a granite block sitting in the platform's center. There was an inscription on its face. Mario instinctively knew what the object meant.

"It's the fourth artifact! It's here!"

Sure enough, on the block sat a metal ring about a foot in diameter. It glowed with an eerie red light that reminded Mario of fire. Stooping, Mario read the inscription on the stone.

_Hear thou the voice;_

_Evil calls thee._

_Listen not to_

_Its cunning craft—_

_Only fight it._

_Secure that soul._

"Man, what I wouldn't give to know whose 'soul' and 'life' these inscriptions are talking about," Mario muttered. He reached out to take the artifact.

"DON'T!"

Mario jumped and whirled around. The girl in gray stared at him from her precarious position with terror-filled eyes.

"Don't touch it! You'll kill us both!"

"I almost forgot about her," he berated himself. He raised his voice over the bubbling magma. "Hang on, I'm coming to get you! Hold still!"

He eyes the thin spires of rock between him and the girl. "Looks like it's pole-jumping time."

Lightly he sprang to the first spire, wrapping his arms and legs around it. He aimed for the second and hit it spot-on. The third, much shorter than the first two, made Mario singe the toes of his leather shoes in the lava as he clung to it.

"Just a couple more," he panted, kicking off the third spire and grasping the fourth. The tip of the rock snapped off in his hand. He tossed it aside. Another leap. He wrapped himself around the fifth spire. The girl was just a few feet from him.

"Come on!" Mario called to her over the hissing, spurting magma. He stretched out his hand as far as he could. "Grab on!"

The girl in gray shrank back against the cliff face, her feet just millimeters from the steaming lava. Her eyes showed that animal fear.

"You want to be fried to a crispy black? _Grab on!_" Mario hollered.

Hesitantly the girl reached out to Mario. He seized her frail hand in his.

"Jump! I've got you!"

Her eyes searched Mario's face uncertainly. She trembled, and her hand started to pull away.

Mario locked eyes with her. "You can trust me. You've _got_ to trust me. Now jump!"

The girl in gray stared at Mario for a moment, and her face lost some of its fear. The next instant she flung herself toward the rock spire. Mario pulled her in with all his might, and she struck the spire and clung to it like a vise.

The spire shuddered under the combined weight of Mario and the mysterious girl. It began to sink into the bubbling magma.

Mario leaped to the next spire, turned, and held out his hand. The girl took it without hesitating and made the jump as well. In this manner they managed to reach the low platform in the volcano's center.

The plumber helped his charge lightly to the platform. "Are you OK?"

Tears welled in her eyes. She nodded.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I scared you. I've been trying to convince you that I'm not your enemy. Why have you been trying to stop me?"

The tears spilled down her pale cheeks. "Because...you...you're going to unleash Penumbra..."

"No, I'm not," Mario stated emphatically.

"But—but he's in you—"

"I was tricked into releasing him," Mario explained, "and he invaded me. And I want him out! That's why I'm collecting the artifacts—so I can force him to leave my body. Then I'll finish him off once and for all." He met the girl's eyes with an intensity. "Do you understand?"

Slowly she nodded.

Satisfied, Mario turned again and reached out his hand to take the artifact from its resting place. The girl tackled him from the side, skidding both of them onto the rough lava rock beneath their feet.

"Ouch!" Mario yelped. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Don't touch it!" repeated the girl in gray. "The Helios Firewheel must not be disturbed! Touch it, and this volcano will erupt!"

Mario stared at her from his prone position. Deliberately he sat up, studying her closely. "How do you know?" he asked, puzzled. "How have you known _everything_—where I was going, what I was looking for, even that Penumbra was inside me? How have you _known?_"

The girl got nervously to her feet, avoiding Mario's eyes. "My great-grandfather was the one who sealed Penumbra away," she murmured. "He scattered the artifacts so that no one would ever be able to obtain all thirteen. He never foresaw that anyone would interfere. But I did. And I will sacrifice myself to keep Penumbra powerless." She abruptly locked eyes with Mario. "Please," she whispered, "help me."

"You trust me?"

She nodded. "You saved my life without counting the cost to your own. You know I tried to kill you before, but you saved me anyway. I...I know I can trust you now."

Mario smiled and got to his feet. "What's your name?"

Suddenly the girl's face regained some of its former fear. She avoided Mario's eyes again. "I... I... Mercedes. I-I'm Mercedes." Her face betrayed a slight blush.

"Mercedes," Mario repeated, storing the name in his memory. "Well, you'd better get to higher ground. I'm going to take the artifact."

Mercedes paled. "N-No! You mustn't!"

"I've got to. I'm in a race against time. Cyanara is after the artifacts too. She wants to use Penumbra's power to help her rule the world. Who knows how many artifacts she's got by this time! I have to get this one, Mercedes—or eventually she will anyway."

"I'm staying with you." Mercedes moved closer to him. "I have no one else I can trust."

"Suit yourself," Mario replied. "Here goes!"

*end music*

He looked at the Firewheel. It glowed red still. He touched it. Nothing happened.

"Seems safe."

Mario held his breath and removed the artifact from the granite block. Mercedes gave a little gasp and shrank against him in fright. Both stood stock still, not daring to move, listening, the lava hissing and bubbling about them...

Still nothing happened.

Mario let out a long breath. "Looks like it was safe after all."

Suddenly the platform rumbled violently beneath their feet, knocking them both down. The sounds of sizzling, spurting magma grew louder and louder.

"...Or not."

Mercedes gave a little scream. "It's rising! The lava's rising!"

"Go!" Mario bolted to his feet. "Run!"

Mario leaped along the path of unstable stones and Wall Kicked up to the spiral path leading up to the crater. He reached down his hand. "Come on! I'll pull you up!"

Mercedes was just about to follow him when the rising lava claimed the tiny stepping stones, trapping her on the platform. "Mario!" she screamed hysterically, trembling in fright.

Mario looked across the lava at her and gasped. "Mercedes!"

The lava began rising faster. Mercedes was literally quaking in fear. She clutched at her gray cloak, casting wild glances at the fast-rising magma.

She was doomed.


	13. To the Sky

As the lava threatened to swallow the platform Mercedes occupied, Mario acted as only a hero would have. From the ledge he executed a magnificent Long Jump, hurling himself out over the deadly magma. He hit Mercedes's platform and grabbed her hand.

"Hang on!"

Mercedes immediately wrapped her arms around Mario's neck. With her on his back, Mario backed up and performed a running Triple Jump. On his powerful third leap Mario turned a somersault in mid-air, catapulting Mercedes onto the wall ledge. It appeared that Mario himself would fall short of his mark, but Mercedes reached out and seized his wrist as he dropped past the edge of the pathway. She hauled him up with surprising strength for one so frail.

"Thanks," Mario gasped, mopping his brow. "I thought I was burnt toast for sure! Now let's get out of here!"

Mario began the long dash upward, Mercedes close behind him. The lava was riding at an alarming rate. Only seconds after Mario and Mercedes dashed past a given spot on the spiral ledge, the insatiable magma would devour it as it climbed ever higher.

"It's catching up with us!" cried Mercedes, face pale and frightened.

"Keep going!" Mario yelled back, forcing his legs to pump harder. Mercedes gasped for breath as she attempted to keep pace with him.

"I - I can't - keep going - like this!" she gasped, feeling her strength failing. Her coordination slackened, and she slowed somewhat. The lava was surging upward now.

Suddenly Mercedes tripped over her own feet and collapsed. She tried to rise but could not. Her endurance was gone, her energy spent. Mario turned and gasped. The lava rushed toward her.

Mario dashed back to her, hauled her onto his back, and took off up the spiral slope again. His added burden slowed him down, and the lava began to catch up with him again. He cast a glance upward. The volcano's open crater was looming close. If only he could stay ahead of the surging magma...

The volcano shuddered, nearly knocking Mario off his feet. He regained his balance and kept running as fast as he could. The lava was sizzling in his ears, nipping at his heels, spurring him on. There was the exit just above him. The volcano rumbled once more, and the lava rushed upward with incredible speed.

Mario reached the end of the spiral pathway some feet below the crater's rim and leaped upward with all his might. He cleared the rim, and he and his exhausted burden tumbled and skidded down the mountainside as Mt. Fierno erupted with a tremendous explosion of searing magma and a towering billow of smoke and ash.

Quicksilver was standing in the jungle some distance from the volcano. His sharp eye caught the violent eruption immediately. He put a hand inside his silver vest and touched a tiny transmitter. Opening his mouth, he uttered three deliberate words.

"He's got it."

Mario and Mercedes rolled to the foot of the volcano's cone. Mercedes coughed weakly and tried to rise, but could not until Mario helped her up and supported her.

"Come on, we can't stop now. That lava will be rolling right down at us any minute!"

Mercedes nodded and began to run, but collapsed again after just a few steps.

"It - It's no use... I can't - keep this up," she wheezed in exhaustion.

"No, you can't give out now!" Mario struggled to lift her frail body, but her dead weight was too much for his own tired muscles.

A hissing sound made him turn. The lava was pouring down the side of Mt. Fierno directly toward him. He gulped. "Oh, great. Not good."

The next instant Quicksilver flashed in front of him. "Need a little help?"

"Quicksilver, thank goodness! Grab the girl and let's get out of here!"

Quicksilver scooped Mercedes up in his arms, and he and Mario dashed into the jungle, fleeing the unstoppable lava flow.

"I think we're safe now," Quicksilver concluded as he slowed to a stop nearly a mile from the volcano. He looked down at Mercedes. "Where'd you pick up the princess?"

Mercedes blushed nervously.

Mario grinned in spite of his exhaustion. "Oh, she's no princess. That girl you've got in your arms is none other than our mysterious girl in gray."

"What?" Quicksilver nearly dropped her.

"Yep. Her name's Mercedes."

Quicksilver just stared at her.

Mercedes turned her eyes away from the scrutiny. "Let me down, please."

Still somewhat stunned, Quicksilver obliged, and Mercedes quickly sheltered herself behind Mario.

"A little shy?" asked Quicksilver.

Mario nodded and gently guided Mercedes out from behind him. "It's all right, Mercedes. This is Quicksilver. He's helping me get the artifacts too."

"Too?" interposed Quicksilver. "You mean she's -"

"She's coming with us by her own request," Mario informed him. "She knows quite a bit about the artifacts."

"I-I can guide you," Mercedes put in timidly. "You won't need to use the Aeshma Sword any more."

Mario stared. "How did you know we were using the Sword?"

"You forget I watched every move you made," she replied quietly.

"That's right, I forgot." Mario shrugged. "Why not? Lead the way, Mercedes!"

The girl hesitated, then nodded briefly and started off through the jungle, heading southeast. Her movement was uncannily silent.

"Boy, no wonder I rarely heard her following us," Mario remarked to Quicksilver as they followed their new guide. "She's as silent as a ghost!"

Quicksilver nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. _So this Mercedes knows about the artifacts,_ he mused as they traveled. _She even seems to know their locations. Hmmmm... This could bear repeating to a certain someone..._

* * *

"Curse that Mario!" screamed Cyanara. Her scream echoed in the hollow shrine in the heart of the Crystal Palace. She struck the arm of her silver throne a vicious blow.

"I _curse_ that Mario!" she repeated vehemently. "He's already got four artifacts. If this keeps up he'll get seven before I do!" She seethed in rage. "That meddling _pest!_"

She rose abruptly from her throne, eyes flashing. "I'll make him pay for his meddling," she breathed threateningly. "His oh-so-precious princess is going to suffer as never before!" Rapidly she strode to the crystal doors and flung them wide, exiting her cavernous throne room and heading for the torture chamber.

Upon entering the dim room, Cyanara barked an order to the Paroidian Guards within.

"Bind her to the whipping post!"

The guards unfastened Peach from the electric table to which she had been left bound, dragged her across the room, and tied her hands to an overhead beam.

"You may go," Cyanara said in dismissal. The guards left. Peach remained silent.

"Playing brave, Peach?" Cyanara asked snidely.

"I'm not afraid of you," Peach said quietly.

"Just give up and die, Peach," spat Cyanara, plucking the appropriate whip from the table beside her and flicking its black length threateningly. "I don't care if you survive this beating or not. If you do - well, I'll just have to kill you later, won't I?"

The whip struck Peach's rainbow robe and bounced harmlessly off, leaving no wound. Peach felt no pain.

"Wh-What?" gasped Cyanara. "You... You..."

Again the whip cracked across Peach's back; again there was no result.

Peach spoke calmly. "The Eighth Guardian can't be hurt by physical weapons."

The Empress's eyes bulged in rage. She reached for her waist and withdrew a silver dagger from beneath her miniskirt. Swiftly she placed herself directly in front of Peach.

The Princess met her sister's glare steadily. "You can't hurt me with that."

Instantly Cyanara seized Peach's throat and stabbed the dagger at her Adam's apple. The silver blade snapped in two upon impact.

Stunned, Cyanara backed away, staring at her shattered weapon. Then she regained her composure. "Hmph." She cast her now-worthless dagger aside and glared again at her helpless sibling. "I still have something to make you scream." An evil light flickered in her eyes. Her hand glowed black.

Peach's eyes widened. "N-No, please! Not that! NO!"

The Empress's hand unleashed a torrential beam of dark energy that punched into Peach's chest. Peach screamed in agony and writhed against the ropes holding her hands over her head. The beam shut off after a minute of hysteric screaming.

"Does that hurt?" mocked Cyanara as Peach sagged forward, supported by her bound hands.

Peach gasped for breath and did not reply.

Cyanara hit Peach with another minute-long energy burst. The screams were nearly unbearable.

"This is for all the trouble you and that idiot Mario have ever caused me!" she screamed in fury as she canceled her energy beam and allowed Peach to sag forward again. "I hate you! Do you hear me? I HATE the very ground you walk on!" Cyanara was livid, shaking in rage as she raved at Peach. Another beam burst from her hand and slammed into Peach, bringing again the agonizing screams.

"I'll keep this up until you DIE, you despicable thief!" she screamed. "You never should have been born, Peach! Now FEEL MY WRATH!"

A bloodcurdling scream of hatred rent the air. Peach barely heard it as she herself screamed in unbearable torment. She felt herself weakening. Another minute would end the pain and bridge the gap to eternity. She almost wished to die, so great was the pain. Her mind was slipping...

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a mirror flew across the room. It passed directly through the killing beam and reflected it back at the Empress for the briefest instant before shattering on the floor. That instant, however, was enough to blow Cyanara backward into the wall.

The Empress staggered to her feet, dazed by the force of her own reflected attack. She stared at Peach. The Princess hung unconscious by her hands, her feet having slipped from beneath her, her head sagging forward. No one else was in sight.

"Who...did that?" she croaked unsteadily.

A Paroidian Guard flung the torture chamber door wide. "O Great One, there is one in the throne room who requires your presence."

"Very well." Cyanara gave Peach a last puzzled look and swept from the throne room.

After an interminable silence, Twink peeped out from behind the iron maiden across the room from Peach.

"Whew, she's gone," he sighed. "Looks like the mirror did the trick! And won't Cyanara be mad when she finds out that mirror was from her own room!"

He looked down at Peach and gasped. "Princess!" Immediately he flew to her side, prodding her to awaken. "Princess Peach, wake up!"

Peach did not respond.

A horrifying thought struck him. "What if she's dead? What if I was too late? Oh, no, please! Princess, WAKE UP!"

Twink darted up and cut the ropes holding her hands up with a brief energy burst. She collapsed limply to the floor and remained motionless. Her breathing seemed still.

"Princess, wake up! It's me, Twink! Come on, you gotta wake up!"

Peach moaned ever so slightly. "...unhhh...Twink..."

Twink was by her face in a flash. "Princess Peach!"

"Twink..." she managed, "I...I can't...take...any more...of this..."

"It's gonna be OK, Princess," Twink reassured her. "Mario'll come through! He always does!"

"...No...Twink...that's...that's not it..." Peach shifted a bit, too weak to move further. "Next time...my sister...she'll...kill me... I...I don't...have...any...more strength...to fight..."

"No, Princess! You can't give up now!" urged Twink.

"It's no use..." whispered Peach. "Cyanara...wins..."

"Never!" Twink cried. "If you can't keep fighting, I will! I won't let her kill you!"

Peach only let a sigh escape her lips, and she lapsed back into unconsciousness.

* * *

Cyanara entered her throne room and smiled pleasantly.

"Back again, I see, Zaron. What little treasure have you this time?"

The black specter withdrew a pristine white lily from his tattered robe. "The mystic Ostara Lily, plucked from the far edges of Flower Fields. It is one of the sacred artifacts, Great One."

The Empress took the Lily with delicate fingers, drinking in its beauty. "Marvelous work. Have the Shroobs given you any trouble?"

"None," rasped Zaron in answer. "They are loyal to a fault."

"The best kind of loyalty," responded Cyanara with a knowing smile. "You may go, Zaron. I trust you have your next target in mind already?"

Zaron's eyes gleamed red, and he smiled, revealing his wicked fangs. "But of course. The next artifact will be delivered to you before the sun is set."

"That's the tune I love to hear," replied Cyanara. "See that it is."

Zaron bowed and vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"So...hot..." panted Mario as he plodded along behind Mercedes. "Exchanging a volcano for a desert wasn't a good trade."

"At least you can't be melted by magma," Quicksilver offered, bringing up the rear.

"Yeah, now I just get slow-roasted by the sun," groaned Mario. He mopped the sweat from his face. "How much farther, Mercedes? Dry Dry Desert isn't my cup of tea."

"Four miles," responded pale-faced Mercedes, growing weak from thirst. "I'm sorry about this."

Mario saw her wobble unsteadily and caught her by the shoulders. "Easy there. Relax."

"Really, I'm fine," she protested weakly. "We've got to keep going."

Reluctantly Mario released her, and the three continued their trek across the trackless desert. Mercedes seemed to have steadied herself. The afternoon sun baked the barren sands, bathing the group in relentless heat. Sweat poured from their bodies as they plodded onward.

Four miles later the desert gave way to sparse grass, then to lush fields. Mario sighed in relief. "Man, I thought the desert would never end."

Mercedes swayed. Catching herself, she sank down to rest in the grass, moaning.

"What's wrong, Mercedes?" queried Mario.

She licked her chapped lips and swallowed with difficulty. "Dehydration," she rasped. "I need water."

"Don't we all," Mario added. "There's gotta be a stream or something like that nearby. I'll go take a look."

Mario started off across the fields in search of water. He hadn't gone far before he came to a wooden signpost.

"River - one mile south," he read. "This sounds like a job for Quicksilver."

"You talking about me?"

Mario jumped and whirled around to see Quicksilver standing there ever so nonchalantly.

"Scared?"

The plumber grinned at the prank. "The sign here says the river's a mile away. Mercedes needs water fast."

"That's a job for me, all right," Quicksilver agreed. "Be back in a flash."

He zipped away like a silver blur, returning just seconds later with a silver cup full of water.

"Don't think I travel unprepared," he offered, seeing Mario's eyes widen at the cup. "I always carry this with me."

The two walked back the short distance to Mercedes, finding her nearly asleep from exhaustion. Mario shook her gently to wake her and helped her sit up while Quicksilver held the cup to her lips. With great gulps she emptied the vessel.

"Thank you both," she sighed when she was finished. "I'm not used to this constant walking."

"You rest, Mercedes," Mario ordered. "We've been pushing hard. You need it."

Mercedes nodded and curled up in the tall grass, using her cloak for a blanket. She was asleep in moments.

After watching to make sure the girl was asleep, Mario motioned to Quicksilver to follow him. He led the way out, stopping some distance from Mercedes.

"We've got to slow down," Mario began quietly lest his voice should carry to the sleeping girl. "She can't take this pace."

"I still think she's up to something," Quicksilver replied seriously. "Her previous actions don't exactly make her a fond admirer of yours."

"She trusts me now. I won't spoil that trust. Mercedes is staying with us."

"Fine, but slowing down means we can't get the artifacts as quickly."

"We'll manage."

Quicksilver shrugged. "You're in charge."

"I'm telling you, Quicksilver," Mario finished as they began the return stroll, "she's a bigger asset than she appears to be. She's got some kind of...musical power."

"Let's hope she doesn't use it against us, then," Quicksilver responded gravely.

They reached Mercedes. Mario knelt in the grass and looked the sleeping girl over. Her face was completely peaceful.

"She's learned to trust again," Mario repeated. "I won't go spoiling that now."

Mercedes stirred at the sound of his voice. "Hm? Mario?"

"Shhhh," Mario urged her. "Just rest."

"N-No, I can't," she protested, sitting up. "We must keep moving."

Mario opened his mouth to respond and had his jaws forcibly snapped together.

"Mph! Hey, wet go! Wet go of my wipf!" Mario exclaimed through his lips, peering down at the tiny winged apparition holding his lips shut. "Weika, wet go!"

Leika the fairy obliged him by letting go only to tweak his nose. "Long time no see, Mario! Don't tell me you forgot your favorite fairy!"

Mario swatted playfully at the five-inch female. "How could I forget the pesky little Rainbow Fairy who always shows up when I least expect her to?"

"You'd better watch your tongue, smarty-pants," retorted Leika, her voice tinkling like a bell. Her gay expression suddenly dropped to dead seriousness. "I've got bad news."

Mario held out his hand, and Leika settled her pink-clad figure in his palm.

"Mario, my homeland is under attack. It's nearly overrun already."

"By who?" queried Mario.

"Zaron."

Except for the fact that he would have crushed Leika, Mario would have clenched his fist. "That scum."

"He's not alone, either," Leika added. "He's got an army of these weird purple mushroom creatures."

Mario gasped. "The Shroobs! Cyanara's unleashed them again!"

"I need your help, Mario," pleaded Leika. "I can't fight them alone! Most of the other fairies have gone into hiding already - there aren't enough of us to fight off the invaders!"

Quicksilver stepped forward. "Mario, the artifacts -"

"Screw the artifacts," Mario interrupted. "If the Shroobs take Leika's homeland - Aotearoa, the sky city - the Mushroom Kingdom is as good as gone. From up there they could level the entire country with their alien weapons." He turned back to Leika. "How can we get there?"

"Take the Koopa Kopter in Toad Town," she answered quickly. "It's the only company that hosts flights to Aotearoa."

"We're on our way. We'll get there as soon as possible!"

"I've got to get back and help in the fight," Leika concluded, eyes troubled. "Please hurry!" The fairy sprang into the air and darted off into the sky, leaving a faint rainbow in her wake.

"I told you we had to keep moving," reprimanded Mercedes.

Mario grinned wryly. "Guess you were right." He helped the girl to her feet. "Come on, let's go. We've got to get to Aotearoa as fast as we can! Which way to Toad Town, Mercedes?"

"This way - follow me!" She started southeast as a brisk pace, her gray cloak rippling in the breeze. The trio strode rapidly onward. Soon they left the fields and entered Toadwood Forest.

"Not much farther to the castle," Mario announced. He anxiously checked his watch against the sun. It was nearly six o'clock. The sun would set in less than three hours.

Another hour's brisk marching brought them past Peach's castle to the outskirts of Toad Town. Mario now took the lead.

"The Koopa Kopter Co. headquarters it downtown," he called over his shoulder to his companions. "Once we get tickets there, we'll head to their helipad just outside town."

He started off down the empty streets toward the downtown area. As he did, he felt his stomach give a monstrous growl.

"Must be dinnertime," he remarked with a chuckle, slowing to a stop.

"Mario, why don't we split up?" suggested Quicksilver. "You handle the tickets, and Mercedes can round up our dinner. I've got an errand to run myself."

"Good idea," agreed Mario. "Let's do it." He dashed down the street toward the Koopa Kopter Co. uncertainly Mercedes crossed the street and entered the Toad Town Grocery & Supply building.

Quicksilver flashed into a nearby alley and shoved his hand beneath his vest.

"Aotearoa."

A voice emanated from a tiny receiver in his ear. It asked a question.

"Yes. No doubt he'll find it once he stops Zaron."

There was a pause on the other end, and the voice gave a command.

"I will." Quicksilver shut the connection off.

Mario burst into the Koopa Kopter Co. offices, allowing the doors to slam shut behind him. Several clerks looked up from their desks at the interruption.

"I need three tickets to Aotearoa," Mario panted.

A Koopa clerk motioned him over. Mario crossed the Persian carpet and seated himself in a mahogany chair before the massive desk.

"Name," droned the clerk.

"There's three of us - Mario, Mercedes, and Quicksilver," Mario quickly answered.

"Time of departure?"

"As soon as possible!"

The clerk glanced up at Mario uncertainly. "Six-thirty. That gives you half an hour to get to the helipad." He typed the information into his computer. The printer beside him whirred to life, spitting out the requested tickets.

"That comes to three hundred Coins," announced the clerk.

Mario snatched the tickets from the Koopa's hand. "Send the bill to the castle. I don't have time to explain." He stood.

"Sir, you can't just -" The clerk reached for the tickets.

"Listen, I'm Mario. I told you that already! Aotearoa's in dire trouble and I need to get there as fast as possible. Just send me the bill!" Mario sped out of the office.

"Mario!"

Mario turned to see Mercedes and Quicksilver running toward him, each carrying a large bag.

"Man, do they have anything left?" Mario joked as they slowed to a stop in front of him. "Looks like you bought 'em out!"

"I hope this is enough," Mercedes panted, resting her unwieldy burden on the sidewalk. "I didn't know how long we'd be gone."

"You did great," Mario assured her. He lifted the bag for her. "Come on, our tickets are only good for another half hour - we have to get to the helipad by then!"

The group again dashed down the street, Mario leading the way. As they rounded a corner, Mercedes slipped on the cobblestone walk and struck her head on the curb, stunning herself.

Mario dropped the bag and ran back to help her up. Taking her hand, he tried to pull her to her feet but to no avail. Mercedes lay stunned on the cobblestones, unable to move.

"Come on, wake up!" cried Mario, shaking her shoulder.

Mercedes blinked and sat up. "Wh-What happened?"

"You took a pretty hard fall and hit your head," Mario explained. "Now let's go!"

She stumbled to her feet, leaning on Mario for support. Abruptly he scooped her up in his arms.

"You're in no condition to run. Quicksilver, grab the bags and let's go!" Mario sped off toward the helipad with Mercedes in his arms.

Mercedes, borne along by Mario, felt his strong arms around her. She clung more tightly to him. Imperceptibly a feeling welled up in her heart, and she glanced at his face as he ran.

Mario met her look with a brief smile, then turned his attention back to his route.

Despite the delay, they arrived at the helipad with five minutes to spare. Mario let Mercedes down from his arms. She lingered near him.

"Thank you," she said in a small voice.

He smiled. "You're welcome."

The Koopa Kopter Co. pilot strode up to them. He was a rather ordinary green-shelled Koopa in a brown leather pilot's suit. "Good evenin', folks," he greeted them. "What kin I do fer y'all?"

Mario handed him the tickets.

"Last-minute passengers, I see," the pilot chuckled in his southern drawl. "You jest git on my bird. We're leavin' in three minutes." He pointed to a Koopa shell-shaped helicopter sitting on the pad nearby.

"Thanks," Mario called as the pilot walked away.

The group loaded their two bags into the copter's cargo compartment and bundled themselves into the cramped back seat. Mercedes found herself sandwiched between Mario and Quicksilver.

"I see you've got the lady in the middle," chuckled the pilot as he slid into the cockpit and shut the door. "Real smart thinkin'. See, that way, if a door flies off the girl won't fall out!"

"Very reassuring," Mario called back as the engine began to scream.

"I like to kid my passengers!" shouted the pilot over the din.

The copter rumbled as the rotors whirled ever faster. Mercedes trembled and seized Mario's hand nervously.

"Afraid?" he asked gently.

She nodded, fear lighting her face.

"Don't be," Mario said reassuringly. "This is no more dangerous than walking through your own backyard. Relax."

Mercedes attempted to obey, but her nerves simply would not allow it. She clutched Mario's hand still more tightly as the Koopa Kopter lifted the group into the sky.

"Sit tight, folks; we've got a half-hour ride to the city of clouds, so jest relax, mebbe take a nap," the pilot chuckled over the cabin intercom. "Y'know, that sounds kinda temptin'..."

"Very funny," Quicksilver responded.

As the minutes passed and the helicopter skimmed along through the air, Mercedes gradually relaxed. Eventually she nodded off to sleep, and Mario discovered with a wry smile that it was impossible for him to dislodge her gray-hooded head from his left shoulder.

"Guess I'm the pillow on this trip," he said resignedly after several futile attempts to escape the nodding head.

Quicksilver glanced over at the sleeping Mercedes and snorted disapprovingly.

After twenty-five minutes Mario peered out his window. A vast cloud formation floated in the middle of the clear blue just a few miles ahead. He nudged Mercedes.

"Mercedes, wake up. We're almost there."

Her eyes blinked open. For a moment she seemed unsure of where she was. Then she felt Mario's shoulder beneath her cheek. She bolted upright, her face blushing.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mario!"

"It's OK," the plumber reassured her. "You were tired."

The blush deepened.

Suddenly an explosion rocked the copter crazily. The pilot yelled some incoherent phrase over the intercom and skidded the vehicle to one side as another missile detonated a few feet away.

"Holy biscuits an' gravy!" hollered the pilot. "I don't get paid enough ta fly inta war zones!"

"The Shroobs in Aotearoa must be shooting at us!" exclaimed Mario.

The helicopter lurched downward, and a third missile barreled harmlessly over the rotors.

"No turning back!" shouted Mario. "The Mushroom Kingdom's at stake here!"

"Hey, pal, this is yer fight, not mine!" the pilot yelled back, jerking the copter diagonally as two more missiles careened by. "I ain't hankerin' ta be missile bait!"

"Keep going!" Mario commanded.

"O-OK, but it's yer fault if we get blown ta smithereens!" The pilot jammed the throttle wide open, and the copter responded by picking up speed.

More missiles came at them from the cloud bank ahead. In a series of stomach-twisting maneuvers the pilot skilfully evaded each one.

Quicksilver groaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

Mutely Mercedes huddled against Mario, quaking uncontrollably. Mario could feel her rapid breathing.

Another missile exploded beneath the craft, its force shoving the tiny craft upward.

"M-Mario," whispered the girl in gray, "turn around...please!"

"I can't. I gave Leika my word." Mario's expression would brook no opposition. "Forward!"

The next instant a warhead detonated right outside the fuselage, literally tearing the side door off. Mario would have been instantly sucked out to fall to his death had not Mercedes been clasping his arm. As it was, he found himself dangling outside the copter with the girl in gray struggling to keep her grip on him.

"Mario!" she cried in desperation.

Another missile shot by the copter, and the pilot swerved to avoid it, nearly throwing Mercedes off balance. Her fingers slipped a bit. It was clear she was losing him. Mario gulped and looked down at the land far below.

"Uh...Geronimo?"


	14. Alien Assault

"I can't hang on much longer!" cried Mercedes, feeling her grip on Mario's arm slipping.

Mario reached up with his free hand but could not grasp the helicopter's doorframe. He looked ahead of the Koopa Kopter. Aotearoa was just ahead.

"Hang on just a little longer!" Mario yelled back over the air rushing past them. "Let go once we get over the city!"

Mercedes nodded, pale-faced, and tightened her frail grip. In two minutes the copter was rushing over the city of clouds.

"Now!" shouted Mario.

Mercedes released his arm, and he plummeted toward the city below.

A missile shot up from the city at the helicopter's underside. The pilot did not see it coming. Quicksilver did.

"Get out!" he yelled, grabbing Mercedes and leaping from the copter's doorless side. Moments later the missile collided with the chopper and turned it into shrapnel.

Mario's impact was well cushioned thanks to the soft nature of the city's foundation. Unhurt, he scrambled to his feet and glanced around. He stood on a street made of clouds, flanked on both sides by shops, homes, and massive towers, all constructed almost entirely of clouds. The pure whiteness of it all was dazzling.

Quicksilver floated down to the ground not far from him and set Mercedes on her feet. "The helicopter's been totaled."

"Then we're stuck here until we drive off the Shroobs," Mario concluded. "After they're gone we can call in another copter. But first we have to find Leika."

"Right here," rang a musical voice as the fairy darted across the street to join the group. "I've been waiting for you to show up!"

The little blue-haired fairy floated up over the heads of the group and pointed into the heart of the city. "Zaron's seat of war is downtown. He's sending out wave after wave of those alien beasts you call Shroobs, and they're destroying everything they can get their pincers on. This city is only made of clouds. If they keep this up they'll tear Aotearoa in half!"

"Then we'd better get moving!" Mario summarized. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Everyone, GET DOWN!"

The four threw themselves to the ground as a powerful shaft of pink laser light blasted over their heads.

"It's a Shroob laser turret!" cried Leika. "Up there!"

Mario jumped to his feet and scurried behind the corner of a nearby shop. He peered up at the roof of the tower across the street. Faintly he could make out two Shroobs manning a large gun of some kind.

"I'll take care of them!" volunteered Mario. "You guys take cover!"

As fast as he could he dashed across the street, the Shroob lasers biting at his heels. Reaching the tower, he ripped open the door and raced inside.

Up the spiral staircase he ran. Several Shroob footsoldiers blocked his path, and he blew them aside with his fists. On he went to the tower's top. Bursting out onto the roof, Mario seized the gunner Shroobs and hurled them off the tower. He then got behind the gun himself and aimed at the fallen aliens. One squeeze of the trigger vaporized them both.

"I got 'em! Come on out, guys!"

The group emerged from behind a building across the street and waited for him to return. Mario wasted no time with stairs. He leaped from the tower and made a rather cushioned landing on the cloud-paved street.

"On to the center of the city!" ordered the plumber. "Zaron must be stopped at all costs!"

The party of three dashed down the street, Leika skimming through the air beside them. Another gun turret loomed in the street ahead. It turned and fired on them. Dodging its lasers, the group managed to reach the turret unscathed and get rid of the two-Shroob gunning crew. This time Quicksilver got behind the gun.

"Roadblock ahead," he said tersely, pointing down the street. A contingent of Shroob footsoldiers spanned the road, and a tall spine-covered wall loomed behind them, blocking the street completely. "I'll take care of it. He swiveled the gun around toward the blockade and pulled the trigger.

Instantly a rapid-fire stream of lasers poured from the gun's muzzle as Quicksilver held the trigger down, decimating both Shroobs and blockade. Quicksilver stepped back. "Nothin' to it."

They sped onward, pounding the Shroob soldiers that attempted to block their path. A huge purple tank rumbled down the street toward them.

"Leave this one to me!" volunteered Leika, darting forward. She alighted atop the bulky machine. From her hand she fired a tiny rainbow-hued beam that punched through the tank's armor plating. She worked her beam like a blowtorch, cutting a wide hole into the top of the tank.

"Mario!" she cried when she was finished. "Come on!"

The tank cannon blasted out a huge purple mushroom. Mario leaped over it and landed atop the tank. He ripped off the section of armor Leika had dismembered and bashed his fist through the plastic inside, killing the driver instantly. The tank ground to a halt. Leaping from the disabled machine, Mario led the dash down the street once more, dodging sporadic fire from the Shroobs' blasters.

Without warning a huge column of Shroobs appeared on the road ahead, marching ten abreast in ranks deep enough to blot out the sun. Mario and his group immediately halted and appraised their enemy.

A smile spread over Quicksilver's face, and he withdrew his double halberd from his vest. "Leave these creeps to me."

The halberd spun into a buzzsaw blur, and Quicksilver hurled it like a boomerang at the advancing column. It sheared through the army like a knife through butter and left the street saturated with purple-blue slime, the toxic blood of the aliens. Halved Shroobs littered the cloud street.

"We're not walking through _that!_" Mario exclaimed. "That slime's deadly!"

Quicksilver snagged his halberd as it boomeranged back to him. "Then we'll detour." He wiped the bluish gunk fro his blades.

"This way," called Leika, darting to the front of the group. "I'll take us around that mess."

Leika zipped along at top speed, weaving through alleys and back streets and nearly losing her group in the process. At last they emerged on the main street on the opposite side of the hazardous section.

"Zaron's headquarters isn't far now!" she exclaimed.

Mario dashed ahead again, the others behind him. He glanced down at his feet as he ran. The clouds looked a bit gray. He frowned and slowed to a stop.

"What is it, Mario?" asked Leika.

He turned. "I thought Aotearoa's clouds were white."

The fairy nodded.

"Take a good look at what I'm standing on."

Leika looked down at the clouds and gasped. Her head snapped up, and she stared down the street. In the distance she saw the clouds growing black. The effect was spreading outward from a blackened fortress of clouds far ahead.

"It's Zaron again!" she cried. "His evil is turning the whole city into one big storm cloud!" Her voice was hysteric. "We've got to stop him or he'll destroy Aotearoa completely!" She revved her wings and shot off down the street toward the center of the blackness.

"Leika, _wait!_" Mario raced after her, Quicksilver and Mercedes close behind.

Zaron watched the approaching figures on his screen with an evil glee. "Oh, look—it's Mario and his little gang! They've come to enjoy my company, I suppose."

He turned to the Shroob beside him. "Activate the defense shields. See that they never gain entrance to the fortress!"

The Shroob replied in guttural Shrooboid, bowed, and left the room.

Mario sped up, trying to catch up to Leika. Abruptly a huge energy dome encased the black fortress ahead, coming between him and the fairy. Leika was trapped inside.

"_Leika!_" screamed Mario, trying to get her attention.

Leika stopped and turned—and saw the shield. "Uh-oh."

"You're gonna have to take out the shield generator and let us inside!" Mario yelled.

The fairy nodded and sped off toward the fortress again. Beneath her the clouds churned black, and flashes of lightning lit up large portions of the cloud bank at frequent intervals. On she flew, heart pounding as she approached Zaron's fortress alone.

The fortress had once been Aotearoa's primary defensive structure, built to repel attackers with rainbow bursts like her own. Now it stood silhouetted against the sunset, its white clouds now pitch black. Within were Zaron and his Shroob horde. Leika shivered.

Suddenly a pink energy sphere shot past, dangerously close to her. She screamed and darted aside.

The Shroob UFO overhead fired at her again. Again it barely missed.

"Stop it!" she screamed in fright. She shot a rainbow beam at the flying saucer. It exploded instantly.

Hundreds of Shroobs looked over the fortress wall. Up came their blasters.

"Eeeek!" Leika screamed and dived toward the clouds below as lasers hailed down on her. Twisting and weaving, she was barely able to evade the fatal fire. She spotted the fortress gate directly ahead and sped toward it.

A laser cut through her left wing, nearly severing it. She cried out and faltered in mid-air. Painfully she pushed her damaged wings to propel her toward the entrance.

Just as Leika reached the open gate, another laser struck her between the shoulder blades. The force of the shot slammed her downward into the black cloud surface. Desperately she crawled through the gate and lay on the clouds within, stunned.

"Oh, ow," she moaned pitifully, massaging her back. "Hurts...ouch..."

The fairy struggled to her feet and rose into the air once more, glancing around the fortress's front room. As the building was constructed entirely of black clouds, the room was extremely dim. The rainbow glow shed by Leika's body turned sculptures, weapons, and furnishings into ghostly sillhouettes that haunted the chamber. The blasters outside were silent now. The only sound was the faint rumble of thunder.

Leika shivered.

Slowly the fairy limped through the air, favoring her injured left wing. "Zaron's in here somewhere," she whispered to herself. "I've got to find the generator first, though. Where could it be?"

Little did Leika know that her every move was being caught on camera. Zaron snickered in delight as he watched her enter the second room of the fortress.

"Gyah hah hah...it seems the little fairy wants to pay me a visit," he rasped. "A welcome is in order!" He pressed a red button beside the security monitor on the control panel. "I'll squash you like the overgrown fly you are!"

There was a mechanical clanking noise. Leika started in fright and darted her eyes upward. The black cloud composing the roof vanished, revealing a spine-covered ceiling that began sinking toward her.

"Eek!" The fairy hurled herself toward the door, but a solid wall of black clouds abruptly sealed the room shut, trapping her inside. Desperately she flung herself against the wall, trying to break out. It was no use.

As the roof sank ever closer, Leika cowered against the wall, staring at the deadly spikes that soon would spell her end. One final time she circled the room, searching for an escape. There was none.

"Yes, there's no escaping me this time, pesky fairy!" cackled Zaron as he viewed Leika's desperation. "In seconds you'll be punched full of holes—and good riddance!" His red eyes glittered as he counted off the seconds to Leika's death. He rubbed his hands together, creating a nerve-grating rasp.

"Gyah hah hah hah!" he laughed outright as the spines sank into the floor. "Leika is no more, and Aotearoa _and_ its artifact are mine! _MINE!_" Still laughing maniacally, he pressed the button to raise the trap ceiling and watched his monitor closely.

"There she is!" he congratulated himself, pointing at the still-glowing fairy smashed against the floor, bloodied by the spikes. "Dead! And now I—" He broke off abruptly and stared at his screen.

Leika stirred.

"AAAAAGH!" Zaron screamed. He smashed his fist into the monitor and shattered it. "GUARD!"

A Shroob stepped into the control room, hollow eyes staring drone-like at Zaron.

"BRING THAT FAIRY TO ME AT ONCE!"

Like an automaton the alien stalked from the room. He returned minutes later with a half-conscious Leika clutched in one pincer.

Zaron's eyes gleamed fiercely as he snatched the fairy from his guard's hand. "Now leave," he hissed at the Shroob. The alien marched mindlessly out.

The specter glared at Leika. He put his shadow-shrouded face in hers and bared his fangs, hissing demonically. Slowly he tightened his grip on her tiny body, squeezing her until her bones cracked under the pressure. She screamed as she was deliberately crushed.

"Worthless fairy!" hissed Zaron. "You've been nothing but trouble to me for nearly a month. Time after time you and that Mario have disrupted the Great One's plans. Now you're getting repaid for your meddling!" Viciously he hurled her against the control panel, stunning her. She fell to the floor in a daze.

Zaron seized her, crushed her again until the pain was unbearable, then threw her back to the floor. Leika crumpled upon impact.

"Time's up, Leika!" Zaron screeched, putting his foot on top of her back.

Leika could only lie there, broken and bleeding and barely able to breathe. "No..." she whispered hoarsely, "...this...can't be...the end... Mario..."

Zaron lifted his foot and prepared to crush the incapacitated fairy.

The next instant Mario himself dived into the room, tackling Zaron and bringing him clawing and screaming to the floor. Sitting on his enemy, Mario avoided Zaron's flailing claws and let loose with a punch that would have stunned Bowser.

"Your evil ends here, Zaron!" Mario cried and went for the kill, sinking his fist into the shadowy pool that was Zaron's face.

"Gyah hah hah hah hah!"

Mario withdrew his fist from Zaron's face, shocked. Zaron wasn't hurt in the least.

"Mere fists can't kill me!" cackled the dark specter. He shot his own fist into Mario's face and knocked the plumber off him. Rising to his feet, he pulled the Staff of Shadows from his cloak with a flourish.

"Mercedes, get Leika!" ordered Mario as he stared Zaron down.

Zaron's staff plunged the room into total darkness. "Let's see you find her first! She'll die before you get to her! Gyah hah hah!"

Mario lashed out with his fist but met only empty air. Zaron tripped him from behind, and he sprawled onto the floor.

"Where am I now, 'hero'?" hissed Zaron, his voice coming from all directions at once. "Ah, look, I found Leika! Squish!"

"Enough of your taunts!" shouted Mario, striking out randomly with his fists.

There was a rushing noise. Mario felt a wind blow past him, and abruptly he heard someone hit the floor hard.

"Get off me, fool!" screeched Zaron. "No! My staff! Put that down!"

A sharp crack, and the room became light again, revealing Quicksilver standing over a fallen Zaron, the Staff of Shadows broken in half in Quicksilver's hands.

"Noooooooo!" screamed Zaron, staggering to his feet. His eyes blazed red. "The Staff of Shadows! My control over the power of evil is gone! Nooooo!" As he raved, the clouds of the fortress faded from black to white, now free from Zaron's darkness.

"This city is safe from your shadows now, Zaron," Mario informed him, "but the Shroobs are still out there. I don't have time to waste on you. Get out—and don't come back!"

"Curse you, Mario!" raged Zaron. "And you, Quicksilver—how dare you attack me! I serve the Great One just as you do! She has commanded that you—"

Quicksilver rushed Zaron and pinned him to the cloud wall, choking him with the handle of his halberd. Hate smoldered in his eyes as he held Zaron prisoner.

"Get out," he said through his teeth, "before I give in to the urge to kill you on the spot."

Zaron gasped for breath and vanished in his puff of smoke.

Mario gently picked up Leika in his hands. "Leika, can you hear me? Are you OK?"

Leika coughed weakly and opened her blackened eyes. "Do I...look...OK...to you?" she whispered. "Feels...like...a train...ran over me..."

"We've got to get you to a hospital," Mario said urgently.

"Can't..." coughed Leika. "Shroobs...destroyed it... How...did you...get inside?"

"Mercedes got us through the shield." Mario offered no further explanation—he wasn't sure himself how the girl's flute could suck the energy right out of a Shroob barrier. But he didn't dwell on it long. Quickly he handed the fairy to Mercedes. "Stay here with her," he commanded. "Quicksilver and I are gonna take care of the rest of the Shroobs."

Mercedes looked troubled. "But...what if you need me? What if you—"

Mario laid a finger on her lips, and she fell silent. "We'll be all right, Mercedes. Just take care of Leika until we get back."

The girl nodded.

Mario turned to Quicksilver. "Let's go!"

Mercedes watched them leave. She gazed after Mario for the longest time after he had gone. Then she looked down at Leika's battered figure lying in her hand, and her eyes softened. She reached beneath her cloak for her flute.

"Where to?" asked Quicksilver as he and Mario exited the fortress.

Mario pointed straight into the heart of the sunset-tinted city of clouds. "Anywhere there's a Shroob. We've got to get rid of every last one."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Why don't we split up?"

So you can run at top speed without leaving me behind." Mario nodded. "Let's do it!"

Quicksilver sped away in a silver blur. Mario, however, stood still for a moment, thinking.

"There's something about that guy that's starting to make me...uncomfortable." He scratched his head. "His former affiliation seems to have been rather recent. Zaron and Doopliss both thought he was on their side. Seems like Zaron should have heard about Quicksilver's alliance shift from Doopliss, though..." His forehead wrinkled, and he gazed after his partner. "Still, he's helped me get the artifacts. He's had plenty of chances to turn on me, but he never has. That must count for _something_." Still puzzled, Mario took off running into downtown Aotearoa.

Quicksilver flashed through the city and halted in a back alley. Furtively he glanced about. Satisfied that he was alone, he reached under his silver vest and touched the tiny transmitter.

"Zaron's lost control."

A voice came through the receiver in his ear. It sounded angry.

"Aotearoa's been returned to normal, and the Shroobs will be exterminated before long. This artifact goes to him."

The voice cursed.

"Quicksilver? That you?"

Quicksilver hurriedly dropped his hand from his vest. Silently he levitated up the alley wall and set himself atop a cloud house.

Seconds later Mario poked his head into the alley. A puzzled expression crossed his face. "I was sure I'd just heard Quicksilver around here..." Still wondering, Mario dashed onward, hunting up and down the streets and alleys for Shroobs. He didn't have far to look.

A laser pierced the street in front of him. Instantly he dived through the open doorway of the shop he was passing and hunkered down behind the counter. A dozen more staccato shots rained onto the shop, stabbing through roof and walls in their blind search for the escapee.

"Pinned down," Mario muttered. "Sooner or later that gunner's gonna fire just right and hit me without even knowing it. I gotta get out of here."

A gleam on the counter caught his eye.

The Shroob sniper, standing atop a nearby cloud tower, kept sending shot after shot into Mario's hiding place. Abruptly he stopped. His gun had overheated. A loud guttural exclamation escaped his fanged mouth as he waited for the blaster to cool down.

Just then Mario stepped from the shop door. The Shroob narrowed his hollow black eyes at the irrational plumber. Didn't he know he was about to get his head shot off? Peering closer, he saw a gleam in Mario's hand. A forgotten spark of curiosity fired his mind for a moment.

"So there you are," Mario said aloud, spotting the sniper perched on the tower nearby. "Have I ever got a surprise for you." He lifted the object he'd found on the counter up in front of his face.

The blaster was cool enough to shoot now. The Shroob threw his curiosity aside. What good was it to a mindless alien invader anyway? He hissed as he trained his sights on Mario's head.

The next instant a high-powered laser flashed from the blaster's muzzle, rocketing directly toward Mario's face. It bounced off the mirror in Mario's hand and returned to the shooter. The Shroob was vaporized on the spot.

Mario let the mirror down, grinning as he pretended to blow the smoke from his "weapon."

"Dumb alien."

Footsteps sounded to his right. He whirled around and held up his mirror as another Shroob fired at him. He, too, was vaporized by his own reflected laser. Mario laughed.

"Two in a row! Man, you aliens need to improve your tactics—" He broke off and froze.

The Shroobs were there. Hundreds of footsoldiers aimed their blasters at him from every conceivable angle, flying saucers hovered menacingly overhead, and a dozen Shroob tanks leveled their cannons at him from all sides. They were everywhere.

Mario grinned sheepishly and dropped the mirror. He glanced around.

"Uh...hi, guys."

Instantly he skidded to the street belly-first, avoiding the immense number of blaster shots and tank cannon blasts that turned his previously occupied spot into a hole in the clouds. He weaved and dodged with amazing agility. Not once was he hit, but neither did he have a chance to fight back.

Mario Wall Kicked off a cloud tower and grabbed onto one of the Shroob UFOs. Immediately every other Shroob fired at him as he dangled off the saucer's edge. He kicked off that saucer and landed on another, allowing the laser fire to blow the first one to bits.

"Brilliant, you dumb aliens! Keep it comin'!"

Mario leaped to another saucer as the Shroobs shot the second down. Again and again he baited his enemies into destroying their own aircraft. As they blasted the last saucer he leaped to the top of the cloud tower.

"Talk about air superiority, alien scum!" he shouted down to his foes. "Just try to get me up here!"

One of the purple Shroob tanks swiveled its cannon and aimed at the tower. An explosive Poison Mushroom blasted from the cannon and smashed into the tower, blasting a massive gap in the cloud structure. The tower groaned and listed toward the street.

"W-Whoa!"

At the last second Mario leaped from the tower, clearing the street and slamming onto the roof of the shop opposite it. A second tank blew the shop to smithereens beneath him, dropping him into the smoking rubble.

Mario scrambled to his feet and dashed away with lasers sniping at his heels. "Gotta get rid of those tanks!" he panted, ducking behind a house. "Their armor is too tough for me to punch through, and I don't have anything that could take them down." He plastered himself against the building as he heard the tanks rumbling closer. "This is not good."

Abruptly the house he was sheltering himself behind collapsed as a Shroob tank plowed through it. Mario dived to one side to avoid the crushing tank treads. The tank leveled its cannon at him and let loose with another explosive purple mushroom.

The blast sent Mario flying across the street. He landed in a heap against another house. Scrambling to his feet, he spotted a second tank rumbling toward him from the other direction. A tremendous idea exploded into his brain.

"Hey, guys, over here!" Waving his arms, he ran into the street, placing himself directly between the two tanks.

The second tank trained its cannon on Mario. The first reloaded and did the same. Mario's muscles tensed.

The sound of both tanks firing simultaneously was like thunder going off inches from one's ear. As the cannons went off, Mario threw himself prone on the cloud-paved street, and the tanks shot each other. The neighborhood reeled under the resulting blast.

"Whew!" Mario gasped, stumbling to his feet. His ears were ringing. "Hope I don't have to do that too many more times!"

The rumbling of tank treads echoed in his ears again, and he groaned. "Here they come."

Sure enough, not two tanks but _four_ came rolling toward him from all four compass points, completely surrounding him. Mario was caught in the middle. There was nowhere to run. So he did the only thing he _could_ do.

"Go ahead, you dumb aliens! _Shoot_ me!"

All four tanks fired at him at once. Mario, of course, skidded onto his face just in time to let the projectiles whiz over him, striking the tanks instead. He was nearly deafened by the resulting explosion.

*end music*

As he staggered to his feet, ears ringing like telephones, he head several more staccato blasts in the distance. He guessed that Quicksilver had dispatched the remaining tanks and ran toward the sound to meet up with him. But to his surprise, as he broke through the wisps of smoke surrounding the charred tanks, he saw not Quicksilver but Mercedes!

"Mercedes! You were supposed to stay with Leika!" exclaimed Mario, rushing to her.

The girl in gray dropped her eyes. "I did," she replied quietly.

Mario stopped. He sensed he'd spoken too roughly. Mercedes's eyes misted over.

"It's OK, Mercedes," Mario reassured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Is Leika with you?"

"Did someone say my name?" asked a muffled voice from inside the girl's gray cloak. Leika slipped out from the soft gray material, smiling cheerily.

"Yes, I'm fine, and you can close that gaping maw of yours," the fairy informed Mario, eyeing his dropped jaw.

Mario snapped his mouth shut. "Leika—but how—"

"Mercedes did it," she replied simply.

He turned to Mercedes in disbelief. "_You_ healed her?"

The girl nodded silently.

"And you took out these tanks, too?" he questioned further, gesturing at the smoking, twisted metal scattered about.

Again she nodded; again she remained silent about her method. Before Mario could ask anything else, Quicksilver flashed up to him.

"City's clean. Not a Shroob left. Good riddance, too." He wiped the bluish alien blood from his halberd and replaced the weapon beneath his vest.

"Good work," Mario congratulated him. He kept Mercedes's tank blitz to himself. Somehow he didn't feel he should tell.

"Thank you, Mario," Leika said gratefully. "Now that those monsters are gone, the others can come out of hiding!"

The fairy shot into the sky, whirling like a figure skater. Abruptly she halted in her spinning climb and flung her arms wide. A beautiful rainbow arched from her body, spanning the entire city. As the band of color spread over Aotearoa, countless tiny rainbow glows popped up all over the city.

"Here they come!" cried Leika.

The next instant the street was swarming with thousands of Rainbow Fairies, their collective glows turning the street into a kaleidoscope of brilliant color. Leika descended from her skyward spin and hovered near Mario.

"These are all the Rainbow Fairies?" asked Mario. "There's so many!"

Leika nodded joyously. "We fairies and our city are safe now, thanks to you!" She kissed his cheek.

Mario grinned.


	15. Crown and Conqueror

The swarm of fairies gradually dispersed, leaving Mario and his group relatively alone.

"Mario," asked Leika, "Mercedes told me about the artifacts, and...do you mind if I come along with you?"

"You're more than welcome, Leika," Mario replied readily. He turned to Mercedes. "Where do we go to find the next—"

"I think there's one in the city," Leika interrupted.

"There is not," Mercedes countered quietly. "I have their locations memorized. Aotearoa does not have one."

Mario held up his hand. "OK, OK, before this turns into an argument, I'll check with the Aeshma Sword. If it won't point toward the artifact, we're close." Drawing the Sword from its leather sheath, he placed it flat in his palms. It remained still.

"But—that's impossible," Mercedes whispered.

"The Sword doesn't lie," Mario said with finality. "Leika, you're our guide up here. Take us to every single museum and gallery in Aotearoa. We're going to find that artifact."

"All right, follow me!" The fairy darted off down the street with the group behind her.

"First stop on our route today is the Rainbow Art Gallery," Leika announced, stopping beside a large circular building (constructed, of course, entirely of clouds). "Not very big, but some real artistic gems are inside."

Mario pushed the door open, and the group filed inside. They stood in a large circular hallway. Paintings and sculptures lined the walls. Slowly they circled the gallery, examining the priceless artwork.

"How many paintings of rainbows _are_ there in here?" Mario wondered, gazing at a beautiful bow arching across a gray canvas.

"One hundred and fifty-eight," Leika replied confidently.

Mario whistled.

Quicksilver spoke up impatiently. "It's not in here. All of the other artifacts came with bizarre inscriptions that made no sense. There's nothing like that in here—I've already checked."

"Next stop, Leika?" inquired Mario.

Ten minutes later they found themselves inside a building that could have passed for a cathedral. Gothic arches spanned the lofty ceiling. There was no echo when they spoke, however, for this building, too, was made completely of clouds, which absorbed the sound.

"This is the Museum Ethereal," Leika said quietly, as if inside a library. "All of our most prized historical relics are stored here."

"Anything unusual?" Mario asked.

Leika considered for a moment. "Hmmm...there might be something of interest to you. Follow me." The fairy glided ahead into the vast museum, leading the group like a miniature tour guide. She halted beside a tall black stone inside a glass case.

"We call this the Oracle Stone," she began. "The white carvings on it are some kind of verse in a foreign language." She gestured at the neat white lettering on the glossy stone.

Mercedes gave a little gasp and clutched her cloak, but said nothing. Mario eyed her curiously before returning his attention to Leika.

"So what does it say?"

"The translation is on the wall to your right," she answered. "It doesn't rhyme in English, though."

Looking to his right, Mario discovered the translated passage just as Leika had said. He read it aloud.

_The sacred thing_

_Herein held_

_Was lifted_

_To the skies_

Mario turned and peered at the stone again. A saw-toothed edge on the rock's backside proclaimed the rest of the story.

"The artifact was encased in that stone," Mercedes breathed. "The Zeus Hammer has been taken..."

"Taken _here_, apparently," Quicksilver interposed, reading over Mario's shoulder. "'Lifted to the skies'—it's here in Aotearoa all right."

"But _where?_" Mario mused. He reviewed the translated poem. A word leaped out at him.

"...Sacred...the sacred artifacts..." He snapped out of his reverie. "Leika, how many temples are in Aotearoa?"

"Temples?" Leika counter-questioned, puzzled. "Just two—why?"

"The artifacts are sacred items," he replied, growing animated. "If one really was brought here, it would have been placed in a—"

"In a temple—of course!" Leika exclaimed. She darted toward the exit. "Come on!"

Now more eager than ever to reach his objective, Mario followed the excited little fairy out of the museum. A fifteen-minute jog brought him and his group to the door of a towering castle-like structure, complete with airy towers and fluttering banners.

"The Temple of the Air," Leika informed her companions. "Careful—the priestesses may not exactly enjoy our company. They're very reclusive."

"Great," Quicksilver muttered as he pushed the doors open.

The air inside was heavy with incense. Mario's eyes watered as he entered the temple. Across the dim sanctuary he could see five or six fairies hovering in a circle around a gilded altar. Their rainbow glows tinged the room with color ever so faintly.

"I don't see anything right off," he whispered.

Quicksilver leaned over and spoke into Mario's ear. "I'll have a quick look around."

"I bet you will," Mario chuckled in low tones. "Go ahead."

A silver blur raced silently around the chamber for an instant, and Quicksilver returned.

"There's a gray stone mallet on some kind of pedestal just behind the altar," he informed the group quietly. "Looks like the artifact to me—there's one of those weird inscriptions on the pedestal."

"Then grab it," Mario urged him.

"Can't. The thing's too heavy for me to pick up at top speed. I'd have to stop and lug that thing back, and those fairies would see me."

"Then we'll just have to get it the old-fashioned way," Mario concluded and started forward. The others stared at him as he approached the altar.

"...Excuse me," Mario spoke up uncertainly.

The six fairies turned and eyed him suspiciously.

"What do you come for?" one queried.

"Uh...there's a stone hammer behind you girls, and, uh...I was wondering if I could, um, you know...take it?"

The fairy priestesses recoiled in shock.

"He comes to steal the sacred artifact!" cried one.

"We won't let you take it!" exclaimed a second, eyes flashing beneath her red locks.

"Never!" shouted all six white-and-gold-clad fairies at once.

Mario backed off. "OK, OK, I didn't mean to make you mad!"

"Do not let him escape!" ordered the first fairy, apparently the leader. "He will return to steal it later!"

The temple doors slammed shut by themselves, sealing Mario and friends inside. Mercedes trembled.

As one the priestesses rose into the air, circling one another in an endless ring. Aloud they chanted a spell.

"Cloudini, cloudini, nuna sic anima! Cloudini, destis al cume! Cloudini!"

As they chanted, a cloud formed in the center of the whirling ring of fairies. It grew until it was massive. Slowly it morphed into the shape of a bird, a vicious bird of prey with powerful wings and mammoth talons. The fairies scattered once the transformation was complete.

Mario gulped. "_That_ doesn't look friendly."

"The Cloud Falcon destroys all who would steal the Hammer!" cried the first fairy, perching atop the giant bird. "Attack!"

The Cloud Falcon screamed its war cry and bore down on Mario, talons outstretched to seize him. Mario leaped aside. The huge talons swung around and knocked him down.

Quicksilver leaped at the bird and stabbed his halberd completely through its ethereal body. The Cloud Falcon was not hurt in the least, as it was made of clouds, and the next moment it snatched Quicksilver up in its powerful beak, hammering him into the wall. Soundlessly he fell to the floor, apparently unconscious.

"Stop!" cried Leika, darting up to the fairy astride the Falcon. "Leave them alone!"

The fairy priestess seized Leika's wings and nearly tore them from her body. Screaming in pain, Leika tumbled to the floor of the sanctuary. Mercedes ran to her and gently bore her out of the fray.

Now the Falcon made another dive at Mario. The intrepid plumber jumped over the attacking bird and stomped directly on the priestess's head.

"Aiiiyeeeee!" screamed the fairy as Mario rebounded to the floor. The Falcon lurched precariously in mid-air and struck out with its beak. Mario rolled aside, unharmed.

"You will never take the artifact from its shrine!" cried the priestess, violet locks streaming behind her as she sat astride the mammoth creature. "Cloud Falcon, unleash the wind!"

The Falcon opened its beak and poured a bitter gale from its throat. The wind's hurricane force crushed Mario against the wall.

"Grrr!" he grunted, straining against the overpowering wind. "Can't...move!"

Abruptly the gale ceased, and the Falcon swooped in to grab Mario in its outstretched talons. Mario ducked. The razor claws missed him by inches. He took advantage of the opportunity to leap up and stomp the priestess's head again.

The Falcon crashed to the ground, its rider too disoriented to control it. The fairy reeled under the blow.

"AAAAAGH!" The priestess's scream rang through the sanctuary. "A curse on you, vile thief!" she shouted at Mario, regaining control of her beast. "The artifact will remain here!"

"Not on your life!" retorted Mario, fists doubled.

The Falcon lifted itself into the air again. Its rider glared at Mario, who met her glare so determinedly that he failed to notice the slight motion of her hand. She pointed, not at Mario, but at another, less prepared target.

In the blink of an eye the Falcon had Mercedes captive in its massive talons. The girl in gray screamed in terror.

"Hey!" Mario yelled. "Leave her alone!"

The giant bird lifted the hysteric Mercedes almost to the ceiling, far out of Mario's reach.

"Leave the artifact untouched or I will crush the life from her!" ordered the priestess. The Falcon tightened its grip on its prey.

Mario froze. Silence reigned as he and the priestess stared each other down once more.

Stealthily Mario inched backward to within a few feet of the wall, holding the fairy's glare the whole time. Then he sprang backward in a high backflip and kicked off the wall, seizing the Cloud Falcon's right wing.

"Aaaah! Let go!" screamed the priestess as the Falcon lurched and spun. "You'll make us crash!"

"Down you go!" Mario yelled back.

Unable to flap its wing as it should, the Falcon began to fall, tumbling through the air to a crash landing in front of the golden altar. Mario let go of the bird's wing and turned to aid Mercedes.

She was nowhere to be seen.

"Ha!" shouted the priestess, still astride her disabled beast. "The girl has been crushed beneath the Falcon! You have lost her, foolish thief, to your own greediness!"

Mario's face went red with rage. "How DARE you!" He trembled uncontrollably.

The fairy priestess darted tauntingly about his head. "Learn your lesson, thief—only death comes to those who would steal the Zeus Hammer!" Her cutting laugh burned in Mario's ears. He shook with anger. Then he snapped.

His fist powerhoused into the priestess, knocking her across the room and smashing her like a fly against the wall. A bloodstain was all that remained of her.

Mario stared at his out-flung fist in horror, seemingly frozen in his attacking position.

"What... What have I done?"

"Mario!" cried Mercedes, wriggling from beneath the fallen Falcon. She scrambled to her feet and would have rushed to him, but his expression held her back.

"Mario—what's wrong?"

Gingerly she approached him as he cradled the offending fist in his other hand. His eyes, riveted to the blood spattered on the sanctuary wall, did not acknowledge her presence. He trembled, and his eyes welled with tears.

"I killed her," he whispered brokenly. "I...killed her..."

Suddenly Mario sank to his knees, and a heart-wrenching sob jerked itself from his throat. Then a cry followed, long and tormented, gushing up from some terrible soul-wound within.

"I can't go on like this!" he half-screamed, face streaming with tears. "No matter what I do I can't keep Penumbra from using me as his agent of destruction! I'm just a puppet! A pawn for a killer! When will this END?" He beat the floor in agony of grief. "WHY? WHY? WHY? Why did it have to be ME?"

Mercedes stood behind him like a statue, stunned by Mario's outcry. Then, as he ceased his maddening cries and broke down into heaving sobs, an idea formed in her mind.

Silently, so as not to disturb him, she knelt by his side and slipped Peach's diamond ring from his pocket, placing it on the floor directly under his eyes. Quietly she rose and slipped away. The ring would have to do its own work.

Through his tears Mario spied the ring. With trembling hand he grasped it, and as he laid his fingers on it a thousand images flashed through his mind. Peach being kidnapped, Cyanara spewing her threats, himself gathering the artifacts—the past hectic days sped through his brain in rapid replay. He clutched the ring tightly.

"Peach..."

He looked up, eyes staring through the wall of the temple into empty space.

"Why am I here?" he asked himself. "Why am I collecting the artifacts? Why does it matter whether I defeat Penumbra or not?" He gripped the engagement ring until he trembled. "Because I promised! I promised her I'd get the artifacts—stop Penumbra—save her! I gave her my word!"

He rose to his feet. The spark of determination lit his eyes once again, and he brushed the tears away defiantly.

"And I won't back down on that promise—_ever!_"

"Nice pep rally," groaned Quicksilver, staggering to his feet. "Ow, my head... Are you through with that puff of hot air yet?"

"The Cloud Falcon's down for good," Mario said briefly, omitting the other casualty. "Looks like the Zeus Hammer is ours for the taking."

He turned to Mercedes. "Thank you," he murmured gratefully. "I needed that."

She smiled.

"Please take care of Leika while I get the Hammer," he added. Mercedes nodded and returned to the unconscious fairy.

Mario approached the small granite pedestal behind the altar. On it lay a solid stone mallet. Four lines—a continuation of the inscriptions found with the previous artifacts—were chiseled into the pedestal's base. He stooped to read them.

_Zenith of dark,_

_Endless, evil._

_Understand the_

_Silent killer._

"The description fits Penumbra perfectly," Mario muttered, pulling the Hammer off its pedestal and feeling its weight. "Now I'm sure all these inscriptions were meant for me. Of course I'd need to understand Penumbra's nature. But still—those lines like the 'fated life most delicate rests in the scales' and 'secure that soul'—could they be referring to...to Peach?

"No!" Mario shoved the engagement ring back into his pocket. "If she's the one hanging in the balance, I've got to get to her as fast as I can!"

He whirled about and made for the temple door. "No time to lose! We've got to find the remaining artifacts FAST!"

* * *

The bolt of energy blasted Peach across the torture chamber like a rag doll. She tumbled to the floor and lay where she had fallen. She did not even cry out.

"What's the matter, Peach?" asked Cyanara, approaching her half-dead sibling like a prowling lioness. She drizzled syrup over her sentences. "No fight left? How pitiful—you're much more fun when you scream and kick. It enlivens the occasion."

Peach pulled in another shallow breath, shuddered, and did not reply. Cyanara knelt by her sister's head and whispered into her ear.

"Mario's dead."

"No he's not!" burst out Peach in despair. "You're lying!" The adrenaline set her hands snatching wildly at Cyanara's face. "You—you—"

In one swift motion Cyanara picked Peach up by her golden hair. The Princess screamed. She felt as if her hair were being ripped from her scalp. In agony she writhed in mid-air, trying to escape the pain.

"That's what I mean, Peach. That fire inside you never quite goes out. I just have to fan it a little sometimes." Cyanara let Peach crumple to the floor. "You'll never see him again."

She stepped on Peach's arm. The Princess winced. Images of Mario lying dead somewhere beyond her reach pounded through her head. Mutely she struggled against the thought.

_Dead—no! He can't be!_ she cried to herself. _Mario...!_

She felt warm breath against her cheek and opened her bloodshot eyes. Cyanara's face was inches from her own.

"No, he's not dead," agreed Cyanara, as if she'd read Peach's thoughts. Her black eyes pierced Peach like a sword. "Not _yet_."

Suddenly the Empress sent another dark energy bolt into Peach chest. The Princess convulsed as if she'd been hit with a defibrillator, collapsing onto her back again once the shock was over. She did not scream. She had not the strength to scream.

"You'll never see you precious Mario again, weakling!" Cyanara taunted as she zapped Peach again.

Peach fell back to the floor and lay as one dead.

"Why? You want to know why?" Cyanara asked with a wicked smile. "Because I'm going to kill you _right now!_" Hatred flared from her eyes. "You've got two options, Peach—either resist me and die, or give me the crown and die anyway—a little later, perhaps."

The Princess lay silent, barely conscious, hardly grasping Cyanara's words.

Cyanara seized Peach by the throat and lifted her up, dangling her above the floor. Peach choked. Involuntarily she pried at her sibling's iron hand, desperately trying to loosen the killing grip. She was, however, too weak to effectively resist.

The constrictor hand tightened around Peach's neck. Little choking gasps escaped her throat as her windpipe was crushed. Her face reddened as she struggled for air.

Cyanara smiled her cunning smile. "Precious seconds left, darling sister. Choose."

"...S...Stop..." Peach whispered with the little air she had left.

The hand released her throat, and she collapsed face-first before her elder sibling. She heaved and gasped, sucking in great gulps of precious oxygen.

Cyanara gazed down at her with piercing eyes.

"Your choice?"

Peach almost did not respond. Her last reserve of endurance was gone. The days of endless cruel torture had broken her will to fragments. She thought of resisting. Her mind sank to its lowest depths as she realized that she could not continue to fight. Regardless of any of her desires she had no more strength, no more spirit in her. Was this to be the bitter end, the finality of this rivalry? Was there _nothing_ she could do?

"Cyanara..." she choked out, "you...you win..."

A deathly silence blanketed the room.

At last Cyanara parted her lips in a pearly-white smile, eyes dark with craft. She laughed a long, low laugh.

A tear dropped from Peach's eye.

Stooping, Cyanara plucked the royal crown from Peach's blonde head and stood to admire it, turning it over and over in her hands, smiling at it as she would at an old friend. With a last muted chuckle she gently placed it atop her raven locks.

"I knew you couldn't resist me forever, Peach. They all give in." Cyanara's eyes burned bright with evil. "Eventually—they _all_ give in."

The laugh started as a tremor behind her ruby lips. It grew ever so gradually, slowly pushing from between the lips, revealing the pearls inside. The teeth parted, giving rise to a throaty chuckle. Then, as the power of status flooded her tainted soul, Cyanara threw her head back and laughed as she had never done before—such an evil, domineering laugh, a laugh that shook the room with its import. The echo rang dully in Peach's tormented mind.

_What... What have I done?_

"You trade your kingdom for your life!" Cyanara shouted in glee in the midst of her laugh. "Even the strong-willed idealist Peach Toadstool is reduced to petty selfishness when faced with death!"

The laugh died out, and Cyanara again stooped to Peach's level and turned her sister's head. Bloodshot and tear-stained locked with crafty and evil.

"Don't worry, Peach. I'll take good care of the people for you." Her eyes danced in evil glee. "_Extra_ good care."

Leaving Peach in her sprawled-position, Cyanara rose and swept from the torture chamber, taking the coveted crown with her. Peach wept. And elsewhere in the room, a little Star Kid was weeping too.

"Zaron," began the Empress peremptorily, seating herself on her throne.

Zaron bowed, though trembling slightly.

"The Hammer. Where is it?"

He fidgeted nervously. "O-O Great One," he stammered, "I-I could not get it but I—"

"IDIOT!" roared Cyanara, viciously striking her throne's armrest. "You, Zaron, are the best-qualified _imbecile_ I have at my disposal! How many times will you let Mario defeat you?"

"M-Master, I—"

"Silence!" she shouted. "You promised that the next artifact would be in my grasp by sunset." She drummed her fingers coldly on her armrest, staring icily at Zaron. "...So where is it?"

Zaron reached beneath his tattered cloak and withdrew a simple crystal rod.

Cyanara regarded him with amazement. "You—Where did _that_ come from?"

"I bring you the Izanami Wand, O Great One, from Rogueport. The old magician Merlon had it."

"He didn't just hand it to you..." Cyanara prodded.

Zaron bowed. "He is dead, Master. I killed him for it."

"Excellent, my best-qualified imbecile," the Empress applauded. "It seems you at least keep your word to me." A fire glittered in her eyes. "The race is still on. Again Mari and I are equal in power—five artifacts each. I want no effort spared in obtaining the sixth and seventh. If Mario should get seven artifacts, the plan is lost! Do I make myself clear?"

At Zaron's brief nod, she continued, "I want you, however, to go to Peach's—_my_—castle and do a little...redecorating. I'll be moving in as soon as I get rid of Mario, and I want no bright colors, no sunlight, and _especially_ no pink. Black and silver, Zaron. And on your way out—send in the King."

"As you command, Master," he rasped.

Minutes after Zaron's exit, another figure entered the throne room of the Crystal Palace. His ice-blue robe, edged with snowy white, matched the Palace interior perfectly. A frill of white encircled his neck—the place where a neck _should_ have been, for he had no fleshly head whatsoever; his beady yellow eyes floated in mid-air, unattached to him. A heavy crystal crown hovered over his missing cranium. He strode forward and bowed to the Empress. The gesture only made him appear shorter than he already was.

Cyanara smiled. "Hello, Crystal King."


	16. Guardian of the Gem

The Koopa Kopter settled itself on the Aotearoa helipad. The engine's scream pierced Mario's ears as he braced himself against the wash of the rotor blades, waiting for the propeller to cease its gyrations.

As the rotor slowed to a stop, the Koopa pilot disembarked his craft and strode up to the group at the edge of the pad. His handshake nearly crushed Mario's hand.

"Glad you guys made it up here in one piece," he boomed. "Sorry to hear about Koopinson. Got blown out of the sky, did he?"

Mario nodded.

"That's just tragic. Good pilot, Koopinson—a good man. Wife and three kids, too. They'll cry their eyes out when they hear about this from company headquarters. Sad thing." He shook his head. "So where can I take you?"

Mario handed the pilot their three tickets. He barely glanced at them before looking back at the plumber.

"Round-trip tabs, all of 'em, so it's back to Toad Town with you. And who is this little beauty?" he asked with a friendly grin, spotting Leika atop Mario's hat. She blushed.

"Planning to hop on-board when I'm not looking, aren't you? Stowaways are against company regulations." The twinkle in his eye belied his statement.

"She doesn't have a ticket," Mario informed him truthfully. "She joined up with us here and therefore wasn't on the flight from Toad Town."

"Not a problem," he replied genially. "Little jewel weighs next to nothing. She's more than welcome to join the ride. Matter of fact, she could ride in the cockpit with me if she'd like." He grinned.

The color returned to Leika's cheeks. "I'll sit with Mario, thank you," she answered politely.

The pilot laughed. "Well, load yourselves into the chopper. Day's not gettin' any longer, you know." He glanced at the rising sun. "Almost breakfast time. You guys sure get an early start."

Mario elbowed Quicksilver at that remark. Quicksilver rolled his eyes.

Once the four adventurers and their pilot were buckled in, the engines began warming up again. It wasn't long before that piercing scream howled in their ears again, although it was somewhat muted by the cabin walls. The craft shivered as the blades picked up speed. It rocked up and down for an instant, and they were airborne.

"I've been trying for the company speed record on this jaunt for years," hollered the pilot over the intercom as he swung the chopper's nose toward Toad Town, "and by jingo I'll make it this time! Hang on to your seats!" He threw the throttle to maximum, and the Koopa Kopter started forward, slowly at first, then faster and faster, pressing the passengers back into their seats. Aotearoa was soon far behind them, lost in the hundreds of cumulus puffs that peppered the sky.

The pilot checked his watch. "We should be back in Toad Town in fifteen minutes if I do my record-breaking," he informed his passengers. "Relax. No getting shot at this trip."

"But that's just so _boring_," Mario joked.

Leika smacked him.

"Oh, that hurts," he mumbled, feigning injury. He rubbed his cheek. "Felt like I got tapped with a feather. That ought to leave a mark!"

The fairy fumed. "Mario, you joker! Stop teasing me!"

He grinned.

After ten minutes Toad Town was visible ahead. The Kopter slowly began to descend while maintaining its forward speed. Mercedes, still a bit nervous about helicopter rides, unconsciously slipped a hand over Mario's arm.

"Man, so close!" the pilot grumbled as the chopper's skids touched the helipad six minutes later. "Another sixteen-minute run. How did Koops _do_ it in fifteen?"

Mercedes relaxed as the engine's scream began to die out. The group unbuckled their safety belts.

"Any time you need a ride, just let us know," offered the pilot. "And don't worry about the last copter you rode in. The company will handle the loss."

"Thanks," Mario replied and hopped out the cabin door onto the helipad. He helped Mercedes disembark, and Quicksilver and Leika followed.

"Well, Mercedes, where to this time?" inquired Mario as they stepped outside the heliport grounds onto the street.

"North," came the unbelievable reply. "To the Crystal Palace."

Mario blinked. He wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "...Mercedes?"

"To the Crystal Palace," she repeated.

The thought of Peach quivered through Mario's mind. "There's an artifact there?" he asked, struggling to conceal his concern for the Princess and keep the conversation on topic.

Mercedes nodded. "Near it."

"Then let's go!" Mario led out down the cobbled street, turning north onto the town's main thoroughfare. He was full of a jumble of thoughts. Was Peach all right? Might he be able to rescue her now, instead of waiting? What if Cyanara discovered them? He did not know how many artifacts the Empress had. If she had more than he, she would be able to partially release Penumbra's power and drain his energy from him as she had during Peach's kidnapping. That fact alone made a venture into the Crystal Palace very risky indeed.

Pushing aside his thoughts, Mario fortified his determination and upped the pace a bit. The sooner he got the sixth artifact, the better.

Now the group passed out of Toad Town and began crossing a large field. The birds busily chattered their carefree melodies from land and sky, filling the group's ears with delightful chirps. Mercedes drank in the birdsong.

"That's music to my ears," she sighed happily. "I love song." A contented smile—something rare for the timid girl—spread across her face. Mario watched her curiously. He had never seen her in such a mood.

Mercedes slipped a hand into her cloak and withdrew her flute as if she would play it. It sparkled silver in the sun. She caressed it with frail fingers, eyes suddenly misty.

"Musicala..." she whispered, and a tear flashed in the sunlight. "I wish I were back with you—oh, how I wish I were! I love you more than my own life!" She blinked back the streams. "But you betrayed me—all of you betrayed me..."

The girl trembled for a moment, as if the pent-up floods were forthcoming; yet she steadied herself and, lifting the instrument to her lips, began to play.

The solemn notes drifted over Mario's ears in melancholy melody. He found himself wondering again as the almost-mournful music continued. Mercedes was certainly a gifted musician, but her words... Why the sudden outflow of sorrow from the girl at a simple look at her flute? And Musicala—who was he? Mario shook his head. There were too many secrets, and Mercedes was keeping all of them.

Soon the song drew to a close, and, glancing at the musician, Mario saw tears streaming down her pale cheeks. The girl lowered her flute and clasped it tightly, shaking with silent sobs.

"It's all right, Mercedes," he consoled her, laying a hand on her shoulder. He had no other words. How could he remedy a heart-wound he knew nothing about?

Mercedes shuddered and let fall more tears.

"It's nothing," she managed, drying her eyes at last. "I shouldn't let my memories get the best of me like that."

Mario remained silent.

On went the foursome still, treading the grassy turf until they came to a treeline. They entered the woods without slacking their pace, albeit the winding path they were forced to take lessened the average forward distance covered. The sun was by this time rapidly nearing its peak. Mario's stomach growled. There had been no breakfast that morning and he was feeling empty.

"Lunch sounds good right about now," muttered Quicksilver, seconding Mario's internal grumblings.

"All units, report for lunch break!" barked Mario in mock army style. He chuckled at himself. "What do we have with us?"

"Not much," Leika replied ruefully. "From what I heard, your groceries got blown to smithereens along with the unfortunate pilot of your first helicopter."

Mario groaned. His empty stomach chimed in.

Mercedes smiled at his reaction. Apparently her grief had been forgotten for the time. She pulled several apples from her cloak. "Take one."

He selected a fruit and bit appreciatively into its firm red skin, savoring the crisp flavor. "Where did _these_ come from?" he queried with his mouth full.

"From my little shopping trip. I kept them with me just in case someone got hungry on the trip to Aotearoa." She eyed him critically. Mario chuckled and sank his teeth back into his apple.

They came after a time to a small stream which, after refreshing themselves with its sweetness, they crossed. The air now was warm from the noonday sun, but the forest shade made it easily tolerable. Squirrels sat up on their tree branches and scolded as the group passed yet deeper into the forest, and a few bold scamps bounded after them, flashing through the treetops and jerking their skittish tails in time with their harsh speech. Mario's ears would probably have burned if he had understood squirrel language.

The land began to slope upward a little. Mario noticed this bit of slope with satisfaction. It meant they were nearing the mountains surrounding the Crystal Palace. Sure enough, as the sun crossed the sky toward the west, the slope became more steep, first a hill, then a veritable mountainside. The trees grew straight up from ground that angled up at a sheer sixty-five degrees. Mario and his partners were forced to scramble up the slope on hands and knees, moving from tree to tree for support.

As they climbed the air grew gradually thinner—and colder. A chunk of snow dropped from one of the treetops and chanced to hit Mario in the head. The blow did not hurt, but he did shiver as he knocked his cap clean. His breath formed clouds of steam in the chilly air. Mercedes's teeth were chattering. Quicksilver's fingers were stiff.

"Brrr," Leika shivered, huddling inside Mercedes's cloak.

The higher they went the colder it got, until Mercedes had ice on her cloak and Quicksilver's fingers began turning blue. Leika had long ago fallen asleep inside Mercedes's cloak. No trees grew at this altitude.

"I hope this doesn't last much longer!" Mario confided to Mercedes.

Her quiet reply broke the stillness again. "Not much farther."

"Good," he shivered, rubbing his hands together to create heat. "Although the warp pipe to Shiver City would have gotten us here a whole lot faster..."

Abruptly he stopped. They had reached the top of the mountain ridge and could see an entire range spread out before them, jutting their snowy caps like giant teeth against the sky. In the distance, atop one of the highest peaks, sat the Crystal Palace. Mario groaned.

"We'll never get there by midnight, Mercedes. I thought you said it wasn't that far away!"

Mercedes shook her head in the negative. "I never said anything about the Palace being close. Our destination _is_, however." She pointed down into the glacial valley between their ridge and the next peak. "Down there."

"...OK, lead out," Mario finally relented. He honestly thought the girl was crazy. There was nothing of importance in that valley. Every map in Toad Town marked this area as barren, devoid of resources, unfit for all but the hardiest creatures. Whatever Mercedes was hoping to find, it certainly wasn't anywhere nearby. Not in this region. Reluctantly he followed her.

Mercedes cautiously began the descent into the valley. The downward slope was not as steep as the upward climb had been, but the fact that they were descending made it difficult to remain balanced. The group leaned back on their heels to keep gravity from pulling them into an uncontrollable headlong dash—something that would assuredly injure them once they reached the treeline partway down. The drifts scrunched under their feet and helped hold them back.

After proceeding in this treacherous manner for some ten minutes, they gained the trees again. Now their hands found ready help in the form of rough trunks and low branches, to which they clung during the descent. Balancing was somewhat easier as the ground sloped more gradually toward the mountain's base. Their pace quickened.

At last Mercedes reached the valley floor. The slope of the mountain planed out into level earth. Mario and Quicksilver stopped beside her, all three equally breathless from the rapid trek down the last slope.

"Now where?" Mario panted, sucking in a lungful a chilly air. His breath made large clouds. The plumber peered around the dim valley forest uncertainly. A stray cloud had found its way in front of the sun, blocking the enlightening rays from illuminating the misty valley.

Mercedes shivered in the cold and wrapped her cloak more tightly about her. "This way." Her voice carried in the stillness. Cautiously she led the way, eyes casting about as if afraid of missing something.

"What are we looking for?" inquired Mario.

"A cave," replied the girl without turning around.

Abruptly she stopped. A large boulder sat in the dirt several yards to her left, off in the trees. She turned and approached it.

"Don't tell me there's a cave beneath this monolith," Quicksilver said snidely. "There's no way this thing could have been moved here to seal the entrance. Not a chance. It's too big."

Mercedes climbed atop the mammoth stone and ran her delicate hand over its cold, rough surface as if searching for something. Her frail fingers caught a tiny crack. Quickly she traced its course. The hairline fracture made a complete circle nearly three feet in diameter. She hooked her fingernails into the crack and pulled.

To Mario surprise (and Quicksilver's embarrassment), the top of the boulder lifted up like a cap from its resting place. Mercedes pushed the stone lid aside, revealing a circular shaft hewn into the rock itself.

"This is actually the emergency exit," she explained. "Those who chiseled out the caves beneath us cut this shaft in case of cave-ins. Come on."

Without hesitating she lowered herself into the hole. Mario and Quicksilver clambered up the boulder and followed her down the shaft.

"A little cramped in here," Mario grunted as he climbed down the rusty iron rungs hammered into the shaft wall. His voice echoed in the hollow tube.

After an eternity of descending the shaft, Mario finally hit bottom. The succession of ladder rungs ended, and he dropped the last foot to the mirror-blue crystal floor. Quicksilver followed close behind him. Mercedes was already there, waiting for them.

Mario breathed in awe at the sparkling crystalline beauty of the tunnel as Mercedes led them forward. A million miniature mirrors dazzled his eyes with sparkles. He brushed his hand over the wall. The crystals were rough beneath his fingers.

"This is incredible," he murmured. "How long has this place been here? No one alive today has even heard of this. It's not on any map."

"My great-grandfather's men dug these tunnels," Mercedes replied briefly. "That was eighty-two years ago."

"What's it called?" Quicksilver asked.

"Crystal Caverns," she answered.

Mario shied away from a sharp crystal protruding from the wall. "Very appropriate."

Something stirred inside Mercedes's cloak, and a voice pushed through the fabric. "Hm? Did I miss something?"

Leika darted out of the cloak. Immediately she caught her breath.

"Ohh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed softly, drinking in the dazzling bluish-white crystals that lined the tunnel. She flitted about, cavorting amongst the bizarre shapes and twisted forms as if in a giant amusement park. Her rainbow glow refracted through the crystals and shed color around the tunnel.

Mario chuckled at her antics. "Ah, so that's how to please a fairy—give her a hundred million crystals."

Leika ignored the wisecrack.

Abruptly the tunnel forked into two separate branches. The group halted.

"This is the hard part," Mercedes informed them. "The caverns are a maze of tunnels. The artifact is in here somewhere, but finding it won't be easy."

"Don't you know where it is?" queried Mario.

"No," she admitted. "I've forgotten. It's been so many years since my father showed me—" She broke off, a tear rolling from her eye. "Father..."

The girl swallowed her tears. "We'll just have to look until we find it. And one more thing—there are two things protecting the artifact."

Mario groaned. "I hate security. What is it this time?"

"The first is a network of traps scattered throughout the tunnels. They are triggered by various devices, usually trip wires; so watch your feet. The second—" She frowned. "It's a direct security system that acts to protect the artifact itself. I don't recall exactly what it is, but it was sealed in a large crystal. I think it's armed with a battleax. That's all I remember."

"Let's go," Quicksilver ordered, stepping into the right-hand tunnel. "This way is just as good as the other for now."

"Mind your feet," Mercedes repeated.

He nodded as he started forward. "I know, I kn-"

His ankle caught an almost invisible wire stretched low across the tunnel, and down he went.

"Get down!" shrieked Mercedes, tackling Mario and bringing them both to the floor as something zinged over their heads. The large arrows struck the walls of the tunnel fork and clattered to the floor.

Mercedes scrambled off Mario and helped him up. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, just fine. Thanks." Mario's gratitude was inexpressible.

Quicksilver got up as well, grumbling about tripping hazards and the percentage of deaths by falling. He looked back and grunted when he saw the arrows. "Hmph. Poor shot. Missed me by a mile." He started forward again.

"Wait! Leika! Where's Leika?" Mario interrupted. "Leika!"

"You men worry too much," admonished Leika as she floated out from behind one of the tunnel's hundred thousand crystals. "I'm fine." She shooed Mario forward. "On we go."

The group reached a hub, a five-tunnel intersection. They now had four new routes to choose from.

"Now what?" asked Quicksilver.

"A bit of advice from my father," Mercedes offered. "Leave one person here. If the rest of us choose a wrong tunnel and get lost, that person can call to us and lead us back."

"I'll stay, then," Quicksilver offered quickly.

Mario eyed him a bit suspiciously but did not let Quicksilver catch the distrust.

"OK, then, we'll just take every tunnel until we find what we're looking for. Hope we'll be able to find our way out." Mario motioned for Mercedes and Leika to follow him as he entered the first tunnel.

Quicksilver shoved his hand inside his vest.

The crystals lining the tunnel mesmerized Mario's senses and gave a false sense of direction. What looked like a bend in the path ahead might actually be a U-turn or even a straight line. The reflections made it difficult to tell. The three moved forward slowly, not wanting to set off any more traps.

Mercedes grasped Mario's arm and stopped him. "Shh. Don't move."

"What is it?" whispered Mario without turning around.

"I sense something. There's not trip wire here, but I sense a trap..." Hesitantly she moved forward, examining the walls and floor. She did not check the ceiling, however.

Without warning a jet of fire poured from the ceiling directly onto Mercedes. She screamed and leaped forward out of the inferno, her cloak afire.

"Mercedes!" gasped Mario.

The girl rolled on the tunnel floor and smothered the flames, extinguishing them quickly. She got shakily to her feet. "I-I'm fine."

The jet of fire died down, and Mario and Leika sped past it to rejoin Mercedes. Mario grasped the girl's shoulders, examining her for burns. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked in concern.

She nodded unsteadily, shaken by her brush with death. "I'm sure."

"Good." Mario released her. "Relax. You're too tense. Just breathe."

Mercedes complied, breathing deeply until her muscles relaxed and her mind calmed. "OK, I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"Good job, Dr. Mario," Leika kidded him as they continued on.

"Don't you make fun!" he warned her, shaking his finger playfully.

Suddenly he froze. He felt a thin line pressing against his pants leg.

"Trip wire," he breathed. Slowly he eased away from it.

He scanned the tunnel. Immediately his eyes caught several round holes drilled into the wall, perforating the crystal at regular intervals from floor to ceiling. Carefully he leaned over and peered into these shafts. The steel points of a dozen spears glittered menacingly from within. He shivered.

"And I could have been skewered," he chuckled in spite of his unsteadiness. "Watch that wire."

With infinite caution the three crossed the fatal wire and proceeded down the tunnel. A fork loomed ahead, and Mario led left. Not ten yards in the passage bent and dead-ended. The group backtracked to the fork and took the right-hand passage instead.

Abruptly they found themselves back in the main chamber where Quicksilver was waiting. He watched them unconcernedly. "Back so soon?"

"Crazy maze got us turned around," Mario answered. "We'll try a different tunnel.

Mario led Mercedes and Leika down the second of the four available tunnels. Oddly enough, there were no traps in their way for quite some distance. One finally showed, and it nearly killed them all. Leika inadvertently activated an infrared sensor embedded in the wall. The ceiling rumbled, and a section of it suddenly dropped out of the roof toward their heads. Mario grabbed Mercedes's hand and dived out of the way with her in tow, while Leika simply darted forward to avoid the falling chunk of ceiling. So many sharp crystals protruded from the roof piece that they all could have been pinned to the floor.

A three-way fork came up. Leika waited in the intersection while Mario and Mercedes explored the left-hand tunnel. As they walked, Mario noticed an odd expression on Mercedes's face. It was clear that she was struggling with something.

"What is it, Mercedes?" he asked kindly.

She shook her head mutely, although her lips trembled as if she would speak.

"It's all right," he assured her. "You can tell me. You trust me, right?"

Mercedes halted and looked at him, a tear dropping from her eye. "Mario, I—I wish I knew how to say this, but—I—I—"

Mario nodded, silently encouraging her to speak.

Suddenly the girl wrapped her arms around a surprised Mario's neck, clinging tightly to him. "I love you," she whispered. "Ever since you saved me from the volcano I've loved you." She dropped her tears onto his shoulder. "You're the only one I trust—the only one who's never deserted me."

"Mercedes." Mario gently pried the arms from his neck and held the girl at arm's length. "Listen to me. I've suspected this ever since I carried you to the Toad Town heliport. Remember that look you gave me?"

Mercedes blushed.

"Don't misunderstand me, Mercedes," Mario continued. "I like you. I would protect you and everyone else on this team with my life. But love—I'm sorry, Mercedes, but I can't. My heart is already in the hands of another, and I would never betray her. Dozens of girls have told me the very thing you have, but _no_ is always the answer. I can't love you back, Mercedes. I can't stop you from loving me, but neither can I return that feeling."

More tears dropped from the girl's eyes. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered. "I-I didn't mean to—I mean I didn't know—"

"It's all right," Mario reassured her. "I understand. Now come on. We've still got to find that sixth artifact."

A few minutes' walking brought them to a dead end. They returned to the intersection where Leika was and entered the central tunnel of the three-way fork.

The path here twisted and turned like a crazy straw, backtracking on itself, crossing and recrossing its own path until Mario and Mercedes were well nigh lost. Worse yet, more than a few traps littered the twisted passageway. A wire that found Mercedes's ankle before she found it sprawled her forward onto the floor and sent a sharp guillotine slicing into the crystal floor millimeters from her head. Had she been just an inch taller it would have scalped her.

"This is getting too dangerous," Mario remarked grimly, surveying the deadly blade. Mercedes scrambled to her feet and stepped shakily over the giant cleaver.

Mario raised his voice to a shout. "Leika! Yell if you can hear me!"

"Got lost, Mr. Smarty-Pants?" came the faint replying laugh of the fairy from the direction of the intersection. "I ought to just let you rot in there, you know."

"You're not exactly an angel yourself, finicky fairy," Mario called back in friendly retort as he guided Mercedes out of the maze toward Leika's voice.

Upon reentering the intersection, Mario was greeted by a slap on his nose. This time Leika's blow stung.

"Ow!" Mario rubbed his stinging nose ruefully. "Guess fairies aren't to be trifled with, especially not pretty ones."

"Don't you go flattering me now!" Leika scolded him, smacking him again, but she blushed in spite of herself. Mario grinned. He'd won.

The third and last path dead-ended after only fifteen yards or so, sending the three back to the original intersection of five ways where Quicksilver was still waiting. He yawned as if hinting at their apparent lack of speed in the search. Mario shot daggers at him with his eyes while leading the group into the third unexplored tunnel. Quicksilver watched them go. His hand slipped into his vest—but not to the transmitter.

The tunnel rumbled. Mario and his group froze as tiny crystal shards showered lightly onto their heads.

Suddenly the tunnel entrance caved in directly behind Mario. More sizable crystal chunks followed from above the collapsed ceiling, smashing like glass into a razor-sharp heap that sealed the entrance shut. It was all over in seconds. A deathly silence followed.

"This doesn't look good," Mario quipped dryly, examining the pile of massive crystals and razor shards. "Trapped."

Mercedes said nothing, but some of the old fear shaded her face. She trembled.

"Ouch!"

"Quicksilver? You OK?" Mario called.

The reply filtered through the crystal heap. "Cut my hand trying to move one of these chunks of crystal. I can't budge these things."

"Get out while you can, Quicksilver," Mario replied quickly. "Apparently the tunnels aren't stable. Don't get yourself trapped in here too!"

"What about you guys?" asked Quicksilver in concern.

"Just hope there's another exit somewhere. Now go!"

Silence followed.

"He's gone," Mario said at last. "I don't think that cave-in was natural."

"My father told me about the way the tunnels are buttressed," Mercedes interposed. "Collapses should not occur spontaneously, especially without warning."

Mario kept his thoughts about Quicksilver to himself. "Well, I guess we're down to two options now. Since we came in through the emergency exit, the main entrance has got to be somewhere around here. If we can find it, great. If not—"

"If not, you'll just have to die like rats in a trap," echoed a strangely familiar voice from somewhere far away.

_I might have guessed there was someone else down here,_ Mario thought, tensing his muscles.

"Perhaps my judgment was too harsh. On second thought," continued the voice, "I will graciously allow you to live if you submit to me."

"Don't reply," Mario whispered. "He'll hear us. Follow his voice. We'll sneak up on him and give him a surprise he'll never forget."

Leika rubbed her hands together, eyes sparkling with glee.

Stealthily the three crept down the tunnel, following its twists and turns, choosing the tunnels from which the mysterious voice emanated most clearly. The talking grew louder and louder as they went.

At last the voice was right around the next bend of the tunnel. Mario readied his group for a rush.

"Three...two...one...go!"

They charged ahead and burst out of the tunnel into an open room. The walls and ceiling were coated with a glittering jumble of bluish crystals. The glassy floor was polished to a mirror sheen, reflecting the dazzle of the room, and a giant crystal jutted up in the center. Vaguely Mario could make out what appeared to be the outline of a woman, seemingly etched into the surface of the massive gem—and an inscription also carved there, the sign of an artifact not far away. He read the five lines to himself, puzzling over their meaning.

_Gone, the blest light;_

_It comes no more._

_Return! Thou man,_

_Return the light_

_Unto that soul._

"'That soul'..." he murmured. "Must be the same soul that the inscriptions for the Amrita Sphere and the Helios Firewheel were talking about. I still wish these pointless messages were understandable. I mean, if there's something urgent that needs to be done for someone, why don't they just come out and tell me? Maybe the next inscription will clear everything up."

A blue-clad figure with a crystal crown floating over his nonexistent head stepped from behind the giant crystal. "Well, if it isn't the plumber peasant and his low-class friends. Trying to usurp my royal authority, are you?"

"The Crystal King," Mario growled, fists poised. "Don't you dare take the artifact!"

The King laughed despite his lack of a mouth. He lifted his hand, and a half-dozen crystal spikes shot up through the floor and sealed the room entrance shut like prison bars.

"I take orders only from the Empress, pathetic sewer rat. She demands that I bring her the Girru Ruby. Therefore I will do so, and if you have the nerve to stand in my way I will turn you all to solid crystal. Stand back!" He reached for the giant crystal. A large red gem glittered faintly from inside it.

Mario would have rushed forward but Mercedes caught him.

"No, Mario! The security system!" she whispered. He nodded and kept still.

The Crystal King probed the surface of the crystal, searching for a way to open it. He could find none. At last he gave up in disgust and pulled a remote control from his robe.

"Get down!" Mario yelled, tackling Mercedes and sheltering her with his own body.

A giant fireball blossomed around the crystal, making the entire room glow red. The heat of the blast seared Mario's back, but neither Leika nor Mercedes was harmed.

When the explosion dissipated, Mario and Mercedes got up to find the crystal _still intact!_ Not a scratch marred its glossy surface except for the inscription on its face. But the Ruby inside it was glowing ever so faintly...

As they watched, the crystal began to shiver and shake. Cracks snaked through its surface, weakening its structure. Then the crystal burst into a thousand flying fragments, showering Mario with shards. He stared at the apparition that had just made its appearance.

She stood where the crystal had once been. Her figure was strong, her bearing purposeful. Her dark eyes held Mario with a penetrating stare. From her waist hung a skirt made of strings of crystals, all reflecting the light like dozens of tiny mirrors. Her long red hair was parted into dozens of separate locks, each dangling a crystal at its end. Her earrings were crystal. Her shoes were crystal. The weapon in her hand, a massive battleax, was also crystal—and the Girru Ruby glimmered from its holder on the side of its huge double blade.

"Who is it that dares disturb my sleep?" demanded the woman of the crystal, fixing her eyes on Mario.

Mercedes stepped forward, alarmed. "Cristalis!"

The woman named Cristalis locked her gaze on Mercedes. "I know you, daughter of Lunas, and I mean you no harm. But who are these?" She turned to stare at the Crystal King. "Thieves who would steal the artifact? They would awaken Penumbra?" Her eyes flashed fire. "I will not allow it."

The Crystal King stepped back, terrified.

Cristalis raised her ax. He cowered. Silently she stared him down until it seemed he would melt before her powerful presence.

"I am Cristalis, the Crystal Guardian, protector of the Girru Ruby. All those who would take the artifact must perish!" Her glare pinned the King to the floor, and down came the ax.

In the next instant the once-pompous Crystal King lay hewn in two on the glittering floor, his blood marring the pure reflection of the glossy surface. Cristalis turned, her ghastly deed completed, and fixed her eyes on Mario again. He gulped.

"Cristalis, no!" cried Mercedes. "It's not what you think! He's collecting the artifacts to _stop_ Penumbra, not awaken him! Don't hurt him! I command you to stop!"

The Crystal Guardian tightened her grip on her crystal ax. "I have no choice. My directive is to destroy all who seek the Ruby so that Penumbra may never regain his strength. Therefore, daughter of Lunas—"

Mercedes paled, and the old fear flooded back into her face.

"—Your friend must die."


	17. Master, Protector

Mario ducked as the enormous crystal battleax whistled over his head. Cristalis immediately brought the ax swooping up in a loop and down again, aiming to split the plumber like a log. He rolled aside, and the blade bit deep into the floor.

Cristalis wielded her heavy ax as she might a simple staff, her every move balanced and swift as she attempted to cut Mario down. The ax moved like lightning despite its weight. Mario, on the other hand, was unpredictable at best, having no pattern to his rolling and weaving. There was no opportunity for him to move in close enough for an attack. Cristalis's ax would have sliced him like butter had he tried. Frantically he dodged the relentless melee.

The ax came around at him again; again he ducked, and the double-headed ax nearly shaved his hat off. He backflipped to the wall as Cristalis looped her weapon around at him again. A Wall Kick propelled him across the room, out of reach.

Abruptly the ax-swinging halted, and Cristalis held out her hand. A light strobed from her palm for an instant, creating a small, razor-tipped crystal which hovered motionless over her fingers. It tipped itself toward Mario and shot toward him. Mario had no time to dodge as the crystal bullet rocketed toward his heart.

A rainbow beam shot from the sidelines and shattered the fatal crystal. Mario turned to see Leika hovering nearby. Hastily he thanked her and returned his attention to his opponent.

Cristalis came at him like a flood again, ax twirling and swinging and hacking in an endless barrage of stylized attacks, almost ninja-like in her rapidity and accuracy. The Crystal Guardian and her weapon moved as a single unit, a unit almost too much for Mario to handle. Leika's presence, however, served to distract Cristalis somewhat from her primary target. Rainbow beams fired at regular intervals from the fairy's hands into Cristalis's head, causing her to arc her ax upward at Leika. The fairy dodged easily each time.

"Pesky sprite!" Cristalis fumed, angered by Leika's continual attacks. "How would you like a taste of your own firepower?"

Cristalis ceased her Mario-centered melee and formed a shield of reflective crystal in her free hand just as Leika fired again. The beam bounced off the shield and punched into Leika's chest. She fell soundlessly.

"Cristalis, STOP!" Mercedes cried, gathering the limp Leika into her hands. "That is an order!"

"He must die, as will all who try to unleash the scourge of evil!" Cristalis roared in response and made another swing at Mario. He dived aside.

The Crystal Guardian flashed to the center of the room and inverted her battleax. The weapon was tipped with a crystal spike, and this she rammed into the glassy floor, the shock of the blow nearly toppling Mario off his feet. Instants later some two dozen crystal spikes smashed up through the floor in a ring around Cristalis. One nearly impaled Mario. The plumber scrambled away from the deadly stalagmites.

Without warning a set of crystal stalactites smashed through the ceiling, again nearly stabbing Mario. Now two sets of sharp points threatened him, one from above, one from below.

Cristalis locked him in her stare. "No one has ever escaped me before. They struggle for a time but die at the last. So will it be with you!"

A spike shot up through the floor at a slant and stopped millimeters from Mario's Adam's apple. Another caught him at the back of the neck. Then another from the side. Then more and more until Mario's neck was ringed by needle-sharp points. It happened so fast he had no time to react. Now he was caught.

Cristalis eyed him. The light strobed from her hand again, creating another sharp crystal bullet. She fixed him with another stare. Mario gulped.

Immediately time slowed. The deadly crystal glided from Cristalis's hand, aiming for Mario's unprotected forehead. Mario stared at it in morbid fascination as it crept through the air toward his skull. Five feet to go—four feet—three. He pinched his eyes shut and waited.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

Startled, Mario opened his eyes as time rushed back to normal. There was Mercedes lying on her back in front of him, left arm hidden in her cloak, right arm bare and bloodied. The crystal intended for his brain sat solidly embedded in her flesh. The scream had been hers.

The crystal spikes—all of them—retracted back into the floor and ceiling. Cristalis faltered, her face blanching. "Master—I—" She found no words.

Mario immediately knelt beside the girl. Her face was strained and her teeth gritted against the pain. As gently as possible he pulled the crystal projectile from her arm. She screamed again as it was pried from her flesh.

"What have I done?" whispered Cristalis. "The master—the daughter of Lunas—I have harmed her..." Her ax clattered to the floor. "Forgive me, daughter of Lunas! Truly I meant you no harm!"

"Heal me," commanded Mercedes with a pained gasp. "Heal me!"

Cristalis stooped to retrieve her ax.

"No!" cried Mercedes. "Leave it! Heal me before I strike you down for harming me!"

The Crystal Guardian hesitated; then she straightened, closed her eyes, and seemed to shut down. Her breathing stopped altogether. Slowly her body and clothing transmuted themselves to solid crystal until she was nothing but a statue, and as the change occurred, Mercedes's wound healed itself before Mario's astonished eyes.

The girl's breathing slowed to a normal pace, and she looked up at Mario. "The Ruby," she said tiredly. "Take it."

Mario scrambled to his feet and picked up Cristalis's battleax. The enormous gem glittered in his hands as he pried it from the weapon's blade. He pocketed it. Returning to Mercedes, he lifted her to her feet. She swayed a bit, unsteady, and he caught her.

"Thank you," she sighed.

"Why did you do that?" Mario questioned.

Mercedes sighed again, this time in frustration. "Cristalis is a headstrong Protector. She tends not to listen to commands. The only way I could stop her was to get her to hurt me. It is forbidden for a Protector to harm the Master. The penalty is death."

Mario was clearly puzzled.

"I owe you an explanation, Mario," the girl informed him soberly, "but first I must care for Leika." She quickly returned to the limp fairy lying on the floor. Gently she touched her. "Leika, are you awake?"

The fairy stirred and sat up, wincing. "Ow, what a headache... Is that ax maniac taken care of?"

"She won't be bothering us any more, Leika," Mercedes assured her, gathering her into her hands. "Now you just rest in my cloak pocket again. You took quite a fall." She opened her cloak and deposited the fairy into the inner pocket.

Mercedes returned to Mario. "Come. The main entrance to the caverns is some distance beyond this room. I will explain as we go."

Mario followed silently as the girl in gray led him forward through the room and into the exit tunnel. It was clear to him that the open, willing girl before him was completely different from the shy, terrified version he had first met. Something had radically changed. He quickened his pace so as to walk beside her.

Mercedes gave him a solemn look. "Mario, what I'm about to tell you must be kept in absolute confidence. If the wrong ears were to hear this—" She shuddered.

Mario nodded. "I understand. Go ahead."

"Penumbra was once human," Mercedes began. "He and my great-grandfather were bitter rivals. Penumbra enslaved my great-grandfather's people, but he fought back and at last managed to destroy Penumbra—or at least his body. His soul, saturated with evil energy, could not be harmed. So my great-grandfather sealed Penumbra's soul behind a great impenetrable door, in a land of perpetual darkness, to keep him from wreaking havoc on men. But he feared that his arch-enemy might someday be freed, and to ensure that he would never regain his former strength he fashioned the artifacts. In each he sealed a portion of Penumbra's immense power. Then he secretly scattered the artifacts across a distant land—your land, Mario. And as a final precaution, he created a system of guardians to keep the artifacts from falling into evil hands. That system is composed of Protectors, the guardians of the artifacts, and the Master, the head of the system." She spoke in deadly earnest. "Cristalis is a Protector. I am the Master."

Mario's jaw dropped. "Your great-grandfather—"

Mercedes nodded. "My great-grandfather's name was Lunas. He was the original Master."

A question slowly formed in Mario's mind. Carefully he asked it. "Mercedes, I'd like to know...do the Rainbow Guardians fit into this picture somehow?"

Mercedes stared at him. "How do you know about the Guardians?"

"I fought alongside them against the resurrected Shadow Queen some weeks ago. I know them quite well. Do they have any connection with this at all?" he asked, thinking of Peach.

The girl in gray halted abruptly and gazed ahead, eyes unseeing. She was bringing up memories.

"The eight Rainbow Guardians possess great power," she said at last. "Power far greater than any mortal has ever had. Yet there is one who has the ability to destroy them."

Mario was horrified. "...Penumbra?"

"The Guardians were they who helped Lunas seal Penumbra away. If Penumbra's power is restored to him, he _will_ seek his revenge."

"Mercedes..." Mario whispered hoarsely, "I'm engaged to the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom...and she's the Eighth Rainbow Guardian."

Mercedes paled. "She is the captive of Cyanara, is she not? The Empress will undoubtedly use her as a lure to bring you into her clutches. Once she has you, she will unlock Penumbra's full power within you, and then—Penumbra will—"

"No!" Mario cried. "I won't let that happen! I only need one more artifact to rid myself of Penumbra, and I'm going to get it before Cyanara does! No demon is going to kill Peach while I'm still breathing!" He tore down the tunnel toward the exit. Mercedes ran after him, face pale at the thought she had expressed. Then it hit her. Her old fear gripped her once more.

_Not only will Penumbra seek to destroy the Guardians...but me as well..._

* * *

"Master."

The Empress looked up. Her black eyes caught sight of her laboratory assistant standing before her. She smiled.

"You interrupt my thoughts, Ray."

The muscular man bowed. "Pardon my intrusion, Master. I did not intend to disturb you."

"No matter." Cyanara dismissed the issue with a wave of her hand. "How goes Project Omega?"

"That is what I have come about, Master," replied Ray, adjusting his glasses. "The bionic suits are complete. Every bit of cutting-edge technology available has been incorporated into them and their artificial consciousnesses are fully stable. They only require test subjects."

"Hold off on the test for now," ordered Cyanara. "You know very well why the project was initiated."

"As your last resort should Penumbra fail you," Ray said with an acknowledging nod. "As you command, Master."

"O Great One!" rasped a voice from the throne room entrance.

Cyanara's smile iced over. "Zaron..."

The black specter rushed into the room and bowed hastily. "I bring great news!" he exclaimed through his rasping throat. "As I replaced the Princess's royal emblems throughout the castle with your own, I came into the royal library. There I found this!" He pushed a red hardcover book into the Empress's hands.

Cyanara traced the gilded foreign script on the cover. "The Book of Daksha," she translated softly. "The sixth artifact in my grasp." She looked up at Zaron. "You continually amaze me, Zaron. Though you are a fool and a coward, you still manage to present me with incredible gifts."

"Thank you, O Great One," Zaron rasped with another bow. He turned and left the room.

The Empress returned her attention to Ray. "Project Omega must be kept in utter secrecy. It is vital to its success. If that pesky plumber outwits me again—" she gritted her teeth and shook with rage for a moment—"I will have a way to immediately strike back at him."

She rose from her throne, her icy expression turning to a deepfreeze. "Six artifacts are mine, and the seventh is not far from my grasp. Peach is useless to me now. I won't be needing her to lure Mario into my trap; seven artifacts are enough to render him helpless under Penumbra's control."

"You wish to have her executed," guessed Ray stolidly.

Cyanara's cunning smile broke through her icy look. "Yes, Ray—_slowly_."

* * *

Princess Peach lay strapped to a steel table, blonde hair dirtied and tangled, body uninjured on the surface yet nearly dead on the inside. Days of much torment and little sustenance had rendered her completely helpless. She closed her eyes in resignation as her elder sibling entered the dim torture chamber.

"Good afternoon, little sister," Cyanara greeted with false pleasantry. "Ready for our next play session?"

"Just do it, Cyanara," Peach whispered through cracked lips. "I know...why you're here... Get it over with."

"So I've finally broken you, have I?" queried Cyanara. Her voice dropped to cold, sinister hatred. "Not even my thieving, throne-snatching sister has the strength to resist me."

"Spare me the monologue," rasped Peach. "Just do it..."

"You _want_ me to kill you?" Cyanara asked, feigning surprise.

"Is there...any other way out of here?" Peach tiredly counter-questioned.

"Hm, good point." The Empress slipped around the table and bent over Peach's unwashed face. "But if I kill you, I won't have the pleasure of watching you writhe in pain any more. Pity."

"Sick pleasure," Peach coughed.

Cyanara's face contorted with rage. "Sick pleasure?" she repeated. "You stole my throne from under me—what kind of 'sick pleasure' did you get from _that?_"

Peach sighed as one who has repeated an answer a hundred times. "I didn't...steal the throne, Cyanara."

The Empress seethed. "Denying your crime will never erase it, you pathetic excuse for a sister. You stole the throne and you _will_ pay for it. This is your end, Peach. I am going to kill you in the slowest, most excruciatingly painful way I can, so that I may have the final pleasure of hearing your tormented, agonizing screams for the last time. And after the hours of torture are nearly ended and you come to your final moments, Peach—think back to the day I was banished. Think of how I felt as I left the kingdom, never to return. Think of how, instead of making me your enemy, you could have had me for a friend." She put her face millimeters from Peach's and spat the last words into her face. "You could have avoided this day."

Cyanara extended her hand over Peach's chest. Her hand glowed black as she prepared to hit Peach with her dark energy beam. Peach's breathing quickened to a fever pitch, and she turned away from her sister, face taut in anticipation of her final torment.

It did not come.

After a minute of fearful waiting, Peach released the breath she'd been holding and looked up uncertainly at Cyanara. The Empress stood ramrod straight, hand pressed to her ear, listening to something. A voice spoke inside her ear. Cyanara's face registered outrage, and she bit out two words.

"He _what?_"

The Empress ripped the receiver from her ear and smashed it to atoms on the floor. "A curse on Mario!" she screamed. "He now has six artifacts as well!" She shouted for the guards, and the two of them stepped silently into the torture chamber.

"Unbind her!" commanded Cyanara, stabbing a finger toward Peach.

The guards roughly unstrapped Peach and hauled her to her feet. The Princess was so weak that she had to be supported in order to stand.

"You've only escaped for a short time, Peach," seethed the Empress. "Your oh-so-precious Mario has six of the artifacts. I have six as well. Only one remains to be found, and should that stupid plumber somehow manage to get it before I do, I'll be needing you alive. A man won't try to rescue his fiancee if she's dead, will he?" she asked with sinister voice.

Peach shuddered.

"Take her away!" ordered Cyanara. "I will be leaving to find the last artifact myself within fifteen minutes—and my little sister will be joining me."

* * *

"Glad you made it," Quicksilver greeted Mario as the plumber came up to him, panting from his uphill run. Mercedes and Leika were close behind, and soon the group of four had been reunited.

"If it hadn't been for Mercedes, I never would have gotten out alive," Mario freely confessed. "She saved my life."

Mercedes blushed. "It was nothing. You saved mine. I owed it to you."

Quicksilver rolled his eyes. "Enough emotionalism. We've got six artifacts. One more to go to get this demon out of Mario. So where to?"

"...I'm not quite sure," Mercedes admitted. "No doubt the Empress has discovered some of the artifacts herself by this time. I don't know which she has and which she hasn't. If I guess incorrectly—"

"I'll check with the Aeshma Sword," Mario offered. He drew the blade from its leather sheath and placed it in his palms. It hovered over his hands and pivoted to point south, back toward Toad Town. Mercedes paled.

"Oh...that one."

"Where is it?" queried Mario.

"Forever Forest." She shivered. "I hate that place."

"Not exactly my favorite either," Mario agreed, "but we've got to go there. Cyanara might snatch it away any time. Besides, the sooner I get this demon out of me, the better. Let's go. Mercedes, lead the way."

The group struck out down the icy ridge before them, the shadows lengthening as they descended the slope. Dinnertime came and went—and Mario's stomach again announced its vacancy. He patted it ruefully as if to console it.

Now they regained the flatlands. Going was somewhat easier here, albeit the tortuous trail made their forward progress less than usual. Crossing the bubbling stream they'd drunk from on their trip to the Crystal Caverns, they continued through the forest for another hour before breaking out onto the plains. Toad Town was easily visible at a distance, its buildings tinged with the glow of sunset.

"Come on," Mario called, picking up the pace. "We've got to reach the town before dark."

They pushed on through the growing twilight, finally reaching the town just as the sun shed its last red rays on the earth. Mercedes lifted troubled eyes to the sky, lingering on the slow-rising lunar sliver.

"Tonight begins the crescent moon," she said nervously. "It is Penumbra's symbol. This bodes not well for us..."

Mario set his jaw and kept moving.

As the sun slipped below the horizon, the lights of Toad Town flickered on one by one, casting weird shadows that turned the streets into something of a haunted maze. Mercedes quaked and trembled as the group passed on through the streets. Mario noticed her fear and mutely laid a hand on her shoulder. The fright melted visibly from her face, and she smiled at him.

At last they reached the edge of the forest adjoining Toad Town, just east of the town limits. They halted on the road just outside the dark woods, made doubly dim by the falling dusk, and stared into the shadowy tree line. A mournful howl rose above the cricket chorus.

"...Are you sure about this?" Leika asked with a shiver.

Mario gulped. "No. Let's keep going."

Slowly he led the group into the blackened forest. Leika, flying just ahead of him, shed her rainbow glow through the night, causing the shadows to dance eerily. She was the foursome's only light in this dense darkness. The forest was silent. Only the footsteps of the group and the occasional rustlings of unseen creatures broke the unnatural silence. Mario and company moved cautiously onward, not daring to speak, to whisper, to breathe too loudly. Their nerves were on edge.

At length Mercedes's voice whispered in Mario's ear. "Mario—look ahead—"

Straining his eyes to the limit of Leika's glow, Mario saw the trail ahead divide into two paths—one leading left, the other leading right.

"Which way?" he whispered back as they approached the trail split.

"I-I don't know..."

He halted in mid-step. Slowly he faced the girl beside him. "You—You _what?_"

"I don't know," she quavered. "I haven't used these trails since my father showed me, many years ago, where the artifacts were hidden. I never wanted to come back here. It was too frightening..."

Mario groaned. "Cyanara won't think so. She'll cut the forest down if she has to just to get that artifact. Come on, Mercedes, _think!_"

The girl in gray closed her eyes, trying to dredge up old memories. She could not concentrate. The weight of decision nearly crushed her. Their lives were in her hands. One mistake and they might be lost, as the forest's name so aptly put it, _forever_.

Suddenly a thought flitted visibly across her face. Her had slipped beneath her cloak, trembling as it slowly produced the girl's ornate silver flute. The instrument sparkled under Leika's glow.

Mercedes locked eyes with Mario. "This will show us the way."

Mario blinked.

"...Your flute?" Quicksilver asked sarcastically.

She did not reply to the jibe but lifted the flute to her lips and with her frail fingers drew forth a sunny tune; and as she played, the right-hand path began to glow with a supernatural radiance, piercing the darkness with light. Mario's eyes widened.

Mercedes finished her playing and looked up. "That is our path. Let us take it."

Mario hesitantly set foot on the gleaming trail, looking ahead in bewildered amazement. The pathway shone like a bright ribbon as it wound through the forest, shedding its brilliance as it went.

"This is incredible," he murmured. "Her music possesses power beyond anything I've ever seen." He turned to the girl. "How do you _do_ these things with just a flute?"

Mercedes did not answer the question.

Still amazed, Mario led the way down the brilliant path. They no longer walked in pitch blackness, for the trail itself illuminated the forest around them as if it were midday. Whatever Mercedes had done, it was good for traveling.

The path wended and looped through Forever Forest for an eternity. Countless forks and intersections presente their confusing twists to the adventurers, but always the correct trail, like a river of light, gleamed forth as the answer to the riddle. The group made good time through the enlightened forest until nearly ten o'clock that night.

Abruptly the glowing trail petered out in a wide clearing. Mario halted as if he'd hit a brick wall. In the dim light of the crescent moon he could see a dark, hulking shape looming against the starry sky. The decrepit building was devoid of life. No lights shone through its cobwebbed panes; no sound echoed from within its rickety walls. The grayed, weather-beaten shutters dangled crazily from the windows, the once-red paint was peeling from the crooked siding, and the roof shingles were warped and faded. It was ringed by an ancient wrought-iron fence that had long since rusted itself into the grave, leaving bits and pieces of its once solid framework protruding above the ground like an army of skeletal pikemen.

A slight breeze moaned through the clearing. A superstitious person might have supposed that the spirits of the departed were groaning from beyond the grave; but of course such nonsense did not enter the minds of the huddled foursome. Mario gulped again.

"Boo's Mansion."

Quicksilver eyed the ramshackle dwelling critically. "What's to be so scared of?"

"Why don't we go inside so you can find out?" offered Mario.

"Trying to scare me, huh?" Quicksilver snorted. "Won't work."

Instead of replying, Mario simply struck out across the wiry grass with his group in tow. He passed the decayed iron fence and stepped up the crumbling stone steps to the front door. Slowly he pushed the door open—there was no handle. The hinges creaked and groaned to wake the dead. Cautiously the four stepped inside.

The room was completely black, yet Leika's rainbow glow lit it like a tiny colored candle. The wallpaper was rotting and peeling from the walls of the cavernous front room. So much dust caked the floor that every step stirred up a choking cloud. The ancient furniture—an old ripped-up sofa, a china cabinet with only a few shards of porcelain in it, and four or five rickety hardback chairs along the walls—was likewise thick with ages of dust and cobwebs. A giant chandelier hung unlit from the three-story ceiling, glittering in Leika's dim light. No living thing had trod here for eons.

The front door slammed shut of its own accord, and all four fearless explorers jumped. In the eerie silence that followed, a ghostly laugh echoed thinly through the room.

"Come on, you crazy ghosts, it's just me," Mario called out. "Why must you always try to scare me?"

A white Boo suddenly appeared in front of his face and grinned. "Boo!"

Mario jumped backward so fast he nearly took Mercedes down to the floor with him. His rear-end landing sent a huge dust cloud into the Boo's face.

"...hack...cough..." The ghost fanned the airborne grime away. "Ick. That's disgusting stuff. Do you know what's on this floor? And you're sitting in it!"

Mario jumped back to his feet and brushed the gunk from the seat of his overalls. "You ghosts need to work on a more civil greeting. 'Boo!' isn't exactly great for social relations, you know."

The Boo cackled as only a ghost can. "Lady Bow's orders."

"Don't tell me I have to find her again, like I did last time I was here," groaned Mario. "What kind of crazy puzzles has she cooked up _this_ time?"

"Man, you're a real killjoy," the ghost informed him. "No puzzles. The good lady knows why you're here. Urgent, from her nervous hovering lately. Come on, you lazy plumber, I'll take you to her."

"Don't do me any favors," Mario muttered sarcastically.

The Boo glided across the room to the staircase on the left. It was a shambles; its delicate marble was scarred and stained with age. He motioned for the group to follow him upstairs. Cautiously they did so, none too sure about having a ghost for a guide.

Once on the second story balcony, they crossed to the right side of the room, holding before a rather mundane painting of an elderly ghost. Mario was already familiar with the bizarre way of reaching the third story balcony; so when their ghostly leader vanished into the portrait, Mario followed without hesitation. He leaped into the painting and disappeared, rematerializing on the uppermost balcony. Startled the others hesitated, but they soon followed, and the entire group reassembled on the third story.

The Boo floated over to the first door on the right. "In here." He glided back to the ground floor. Mario pushed the rusty-hinged door open, and he and his three companions entered the room beyond.

The chamber was very dimly lit. Through the hazy shadows Mario could make out what appeared to be a low platform straight ahead of him. A delicately carved chair sat neglected there, gathering dust and cobwebs. Other than these features the room was starkly bare of furnishings. Then his eyes went to the ghostly form hovering on the other side of the room. She floated nervously back and forth, trailing her pink paper fan, her white Boo body shedding that ethereal glow unique to ghosts. Another, elderly Boo with pure white hair hovered near her, clearly disturbed by her worried behavior.

The female Boo looked up with a start.

"Wow, a human scares a Boo! That's _got_ to be a first," Mario joked.

"It's about time you got here," sighed Lady Bow, adjusting her pink hairbow. "I've been waiting for you for days."

She spotted Mercedes and gasped. "Master—you finally return to us? After all these years? I-I never thought I would see you again, Prin-"

Mercedes silenced her with a warning look.

"—Mercedes," finished Lady Bow.

Mario would have spoken, but Mercedes laid a finger on her lips.

"Bow," she said quietly, "empty the room."

Lady Bow immediately turned to the elderly Boo beside her. "Bootler, please excuse me for a moment."

"Yes, my lady." The aged butler sifted through the wall.

"I'm sorry," added Bow, looking over at Quicksilver, "but that goes for you too."

"Suit yourself," said Quicksilver with a shrug as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Let me get this straight," Mario began after Quicksilver had gone. "_You're_ a Protector, Bow?"

The ghost nodded, casting her eyes on Mercedes again. "I wasn't expecting _you_, daughter of Lunas. This is about Penumbra, isn't it?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yes, Bow. He's inside Mario."

Bow backed away from the plumber, terrified. "M-Master—"

"Bow." Mercedes's voice was calm, unafraid. "He is powerless as of yet. The sacred artifacts must yet be united to restore his power. That is why I am here. If Mario gets at least seven artifacts he can render Penumbra forever helpless and even rid himself of the dark one's presence." She took a deep breath. "I want you to give Mario your artifact. That is an order."

"...It's buried in the vault under the basement," Bow finally said aloud, speaking to Mario. "I'll have the Boos open the secret door. But...it's guarded by a monster. Be careful."

Mercedes nodded knowingly None of this was news to her.

"Thanks," Mario said, somewhat bewildered by the previous conversation. He led Mercedes and Leika out of Bow's room and back onto the dust-laden balcony.

Quicksilver hastily withdrew his hand from within his vest. "So what'd the lady say?" he asked nonchalantly.

"The artifact's beneath the basement in a hidden vault," Mario answered briefly. "The ghosts here will let us into the basement."

"Good," Quicksilver replied with a short nod. "Let's go."

The group quickly returned to the main floor and waited. Sure enough, after a minute or two of silence, thin laughter echoed faintly through the room, growing louder and closer by the moment. A group of Boos materialized around the chandelier, whirling about it with ghostly cackles. Abruptly they stopped and pulled down on the giant fixture. As they drew the chandelier slowly downward, the china cabinet against the wall slid aside, revealing a secret passageway behind it. Mario led his troupe through the opening, and the cabinet slid back into place behind them, sealing them inside.


	18. Shadow of the Betrayer

"Nice secret passage," Quicksilver remarked dryly as he waded through nearly two inches of dust. Mario rolled his eyes at the comment and kept leading the group forward into the darkness ahead.

Abruptly they reached a dead end. Mario got down on his knees in the dust and swept a spot clean on the floor, revealing a wooden patch nailed over the existing floorboards.

"The basement's below here," he announced.

"And how do you propose to get through that solid wood?" Leika asked, puzzled. "Looks pretty tough to me."

"Watch and learn," he replied and proceeded to Ground Pound on the panel, smashing it into splinters and falling into the basement below. He landed with a soft poof in the thick dust, choking himself in the cloud he sent airborne.

"Mario? Are you OK?" called Mercedes from above, hearing Mario's coughs.

"Yeah, just great," wheezed Mario. "Come on down."

The girl lowered herself down by the edge of the hole and dropped to the floor of the basement. Leika flew down after her. Quicksilver simply levitated down.

"This way," Mario called to his group, stepping out into the adjoining basement room. Leika quickly darted ahead of him to light the way.

The basement was cluttered to say the least. Piles of broken, soiled furniture lay rotting in obscurity along every wall, jumbled together with ragged canvas, damaged paintings, and legions of the ever-present cobwebs. Leika's glow turned the array of miscellaneous articles into a gallery of the hideous, a horde of dancing shadows that made even Mario shiver. Even a hero can be afraid of the dark when conditions are right.

Mario forced down his fear. "So where is this vault, Mercedes?"

The girl in gray moved ahead into the gloom. "If I remember correctly, it's buried somewhere under all this mess."

"Smart," Quicksilver spoke up. "I don't think anyone would feel much like trying to move this stuff." He struck an upside-down grand piano with his fist. A billow of dust nearly blinded him.

"Well, looks like _we're_ going to," Mario responded. "Leika, get up by the ceiling so we can see better. Quicksilver, let's tackle these heaps and find that vault!"

So they set to work. The great mounds of junk slowly shifted aside, piece by piece, item by heavy item, until the floor beneath was uncovered. Each pile in the vast room was dismantled entirely. After each new heap was moved aside, Mercedes would examine the floor beneath it with the aid of Leika's light. Each time she shook her head _no_. They toiled on.

At last, as the final heap was pulled aside, Mercedes gave a cry. She fell to her knees and pried the floorboards up like a trapdoor. A set of damp stone stairs led down into the earth beneath. A musty odor rankled their nostrils.

Mario wiped his forehead with his dusty sleeve, leaving a grimy smear. "Whew. Figures the last pile would have to be the one with the entrance under it."

Quicksilver snorted.

Cautiously Mario led the way down the moldy stone steps. The cool earthen walls exuded a chill despite the heat of late August, and the group almost shivered in the unaccustomed cold. The treacherous steps continued downward for an eternity.

Finally the staircase bottomed out in a large stone room. Mario and his three companions clustered at the foot of the stairs, mesmerized by the flickering torchlight that illuminated the chamber with an orange glow. At the far end of the long sanctuary-like room was a stone platform. A pedestal sat atop the platform, and a tall, thin object—the artifact—was embedded in it.

"That is your seventh artifact, Mario," Mercedes whispered. "The Staff of Ragnarok. It is the most powerful of all the sacred objects."

"Great—let me at it!" He dashed toward the platform and the waiting prize.

Mercedes was alarmed. "Mario, no! Wait! The monster—"

Too late. No sooner had Mario jumped onto the platform than the front of it broke away and split in half, tumbling Mario back to the floor. The two halves of stone opened up into giant hands, waving their granite fingers at the plumber. Each stone hand had a single eye in its palm.

"Eyerok," groaned Mario. "You guys really tick me off. I don't have time for interruptions."

"Who...touch...stone?" moaned the ancient hands. "Who...break...seal? You...want...staff? We...keep...staff!"

"Cut to the chase, why don't you?" Mario grumbled, going into his battle stance.

Eyerok rumbled menacingly. "None...wake...Penumbra! Now we fight...hand...to...hand!"

One hand balled into a fist and barreled toward Mario. He dodged it easily, but it suddenly stopped behind him, shot out a finger, and spun around, the extended finger knocking Mario onto his face. Now the other fist shot toward him, pounding across the floor as if to crush him. Mario rolled aside as the second hand smashed onto the spot he had just occupied.

The hands opened up, spread wide, and crashed together in a giant clap. Mario barely managed to leap clear.

Now one hand stood up on its wrist, waving its fingers and blinking its eye just to taunt Mario. The plumber immediately lunged toward the open eye, intending to punch it and so damage that hand, but the opposite hand swatted him aside like a fly. He flew across the room and rebounded from the wall, landing on his face. Mercedes gasped.

Mario scrambled back to his feet and dived out of the way as both fists smashed into the wall behind him, literally denting the solid granite. Eyerok withdrew itself from the wall and pounded toward Mario again.

"Come on, show your eyes!" Mario yelled at the approaching foe. "You a coward?"

One of the fists abruptly shot forward, catching Mario in the stomach and crushing him against the wall. He fell onto his face, the wind knocked out of him. Then both hands sat directly in front of him and opened their eyes to taunt him.

"Taunt a guy when he's down, will ya?" Mario grunted. "Then take THIS!"

Without warning he dived forward, punching both eyes at once. Eyerok fell backward and lay still for a moment, giving Mario a chance to get away. Then the hands came back at him with a vengeance. Up went the fists into the air, aiming for Mario. The plumber somersaulted out of the way as they rocketed into the floor like pile drivers, cratering the granite. Mario socked one of Eyerok's eyes as the hands lifted themselves from their crater. The other eye closed immediately, and the hands grabbed Mario and bashed him repeatedly against the floor, finally flinging him aside like a rag doll.

Mario skidded across the floor on his back. His head struck the wall, dazing him for just an instant, but he was back on his feet in a flash. A crazy idea blinked into his mind. He grinned and waited for his foe to renew the attack.

He didn't have long to wait. Eyerok rumbled toward him like an angry god, pounding menacingly as it neared him. One of the hands opened up to grab Mario.

Suddenly Mario flung himself at the open hand, wrapping his limbs around the giant middle finger. The hand went into a frenzy, clawing and writhing and bucking like a bronco, trying to shake Mario off. Mario clung to the stone finger with all his might, determined not to be shaken. He had a plan. As the mammoth hand began to exhaust itself, he reached down with his foot and booted the beast in the eye. Score one for Mario. The hand, having received its third blow, collapsed to the floor and disintegrated.

Now the remaining hand flattened itself on the floor and rose into the air, palm down, eye glaring at Mario. It rushed forward until it was directly over him, then dropped, trying to crush him. Mario barely escaped th flattening blow. Again and again the hand attempted to smash Mario flat.

"This is getting...tiring..." Mario wheezed as he dodged another smack of the hand. "I gotta end this _now_ or this crazy hand is gonna flatten me into Paper Mario!"

He crouched and waited for the next strike. The hand halted in mid-air over his head, and the eye in its palm blinked open. Without warning Mario backflipped straight into the air, bashing the eyeball in with his feet. The blow knocked the stone hand onto its back on the floor, and Mario promptly Ground Pounded the eye, disintegrating that hand as well.

"Ouch...ooo..." he groaned as he got to his feet again. Ruefully he massaged his back where he'd been rammed into the wall. Mercedes quietly came up beside him, concerned.

"Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine," he grunted, feeling the pain of his bruises. "Ouch."

"Mario—" the girl began, alarmed.

"I said I'll be fine," he repeated. "I gotta get that artifact."

"So sorry, Mario," came a familiar voice from the doorway, "but I'm afraid that privilege goes to _me_."

Quicksilver and Leika quickly moved away from the entrance; and, looking up, Mario and Mercedes saw Empress Cyanara herself step delicately down the slippery stairs and enter the chamber. She smiled her characteristic smile at the disbelief on their faces.

"Fancy our meeting here, of all places," Cyanara began lightly. "Quite a coincidence."

"Yeah, it's a pity I have to see your ugly face down here," Mario replied snidely.

"Petty insults don't become a 'hero,'" Cyanara rebuked him.

"Get out." Mario set his jaw and spat the words through clenched teeth.

"The citizen does not command the crown, Mario," answered the Empress, indicating the golden crest atop her jet locks. "Stand aside."

Mario gasped. "Peach's crown—you—you stole it!"

"On the contrary, she _gave_ it to me," corrected the Empress. "You don't believe me?" She snapped her fingers. Immediately Zaron strode down the staircase into the room, leading a badly weakened, rainbow-robed princess behind him, firmly bound with chains. No crown glittered from her blonde head. Again Mario gasped.

"PEACH!"

"Yes, Peach, my darling little sister," Cyanara replied suavely. "The foolish girl traded her crown for her own worthless life. Quite uncharacteristic, wouldn't you agree?"

"Liar!" shouted Mario.

Cyanara ignored the insult. "Stand aside, Mario. The artifact is mine. As ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom I COMMAND you to stand down!" She reached to her left and grasped Peach's throat, squeezing it ever so slowly. Weakly the Princess gasped for air. "...Or would you rather I choked the life out of your sweet former ruler?"

"Mario..." whispered Peach as her windpipe was crushed, "don't...let her...have it..."

Cyanara glowered at Peach's statement and bashed her sister's head into the granite wall. Peach sank to the ground.

Mario clenched his fists. "Don't you DARE hurt her again!"

"And who's going to stop me?" retorted Cyanara. "She's served her purpose. The only thing worth doing with her now is killing her. Let me have that artifact and she'll live—a little longer, that is."

"Over my dead body will you touch Peach _or_ the artifact, you witch, and I don't care how soon you arrange for that!" Mario shot back. "This is my seventh artifact, and you are NOT gonna ruin things for me now!"

"Your seventh, hm?" inquired Cyanara innocently. Her voice took on a sinister overtone. "It so happens to be _my_ seventh artifact as well—and no imbecilic plumber is going to stop me from getting it and unleashing Penumbra's power."

The Empress gazed down at her unconscious sibling. "I've had my fun with Peach. I confess that listening to her agonizing screams was rather...enjoyable." She looked up and narrowed her eyes at Mario. "Now it's time to have my fun with _you_."

"Let me have Zaron," Quicksilver whispered into Mario's ear. "I'll handle him. Just focus on Cyanara."

Mario nodded tersely.

"Come to me, false hero," breathed Cyanara, voice low and ominous. Her hands glowed black. "Come and taste my wrath!"

From the Empress's hands there burst two massive annihilator beams. Mario barely avoided the killing shafts of dark energy by throwing himself prone on the floor, yanking Mercedes down with him. The beams turned off after a few seconds, and Mario pulled Mercedes to her feet again.

Quicksilver flashed forward and met Zaron in a deadlock. The erstwhile comrades wrestled fiercely for mastery, tripping, clawing, punching, tearing at one another in silent hatred.

As these two struggled against each other, Cyanara made her next move. She held her hands out, and an iron staff topped with a yellow crescent appeared in her grasp. Brandishing this her scepter, she called out to the power of darkness. The crescent glowed, and suddenly the room plunged into a dim twilight. Cyanara was nearly invisible in the semi-darkness. Only the whites of her eyes were plain, gleaming hauntingly in the dimmed torchlight. She laughed a low, evil laugh.

"Let's see you beat me, Mario. You failed the last four times. This time will be no different. You have not the power to match mine!"

Suddenly the crescent gleamed again, and a spreading burst of dark energy shot from it in all directions, lighting the room with a weird blackish-purple glow. Mario was caught off-guard. He had nowhere to run. Mercedes pushed herself in front of him and took eight rapid-fire hits to her chest. She sagged backward limply against the plumber, who caught her before she fell to the floor.

"Mercedes!" Mario tried to revive her but was blasted across the room by another of Cyanara's annihilator beams.

Leika now came to life, circling the Empress at a distance and firing her beams of rainbow light at her. Cyanara shot an annihilator up to the fairy. Leika cut it down with her own rainbow beam and hit the Empress in the head with another. Stunned, Cyanara stumbled back, and Leika swooped in and hit her again.

"No fairy gets the best of me," seethed Cyanara, regaining her balance. She parried Leika's next shot with her iron staff and tried to shoot the sprite down with another annihilator beam. Leika dodged. Cyanara deflected another four shots in rapid succession. As she parried the fairy's beams, she charged up her own. Without warning she hit Leika with her initial massive hadoken beam. The fairy shielded herself with her rainbow energy, but the shield held for just moments before the beam smashed through it. Leika was nearly vaporized by the dark beam. She spun through the air uncontrollably, finally crashing to the floor in a disoriented heap, barely conscious.

Cyanara wheeled about and fired at Mario again, who was back on his feet and charging at her. Mario leaped from side to side as he ran, avoiding seven well-aimed beams. When the Empress started charging up her dark hadoken, Mario put on the brakes, and he somersaulted out of the way as the monstrous beam barreled through the place where his head had just been. Again he charged at Cyanara, fireballs flying from his hands as he ran. The Empress parried each with her long iron scepter and suddenly swung the staff at him, catching his ankle and bringing him to his face before her. Smiling her seductively evil smile, she picked him up by his shirt front as if he weighed no more than a feather. She charged up her hadoken beam and placed her black-glowing hand on Mario's chest. His eyes widened.

The tremendous beam carried Mario along at its end as it blasted down the length of the stone sanctuary, finally pinning him against the wall and burning into his chest. When it finally shut off he collapsed to the platform on which the artifact rested, just a foot or so from the pedestal and its waiting artifact. Desperately he tried to rise. He could not. The beam had all but killed him outright. He could only watch helplessly as Cyanara strode forward and mounted the platform.

"It seems the great hero has failed—again—to defeat me," she said scornfully. "If at first you don't succeed..."

"Don't give me that garbage," Mario rasped through a gravelly throat.

Gently Cyanara reached out and plucked the Staff of Ragnarok from its pedestal. She dangled it tauntingly in Mario's face, withdrawing it as he lunged desperately for it. "The game is over, Mario. Final score: Mario, 6; Cyanara, 7." The low, cutting laugh echoed from her throat again. As she laughed, Mario helplessly realized that Penumbra would soon take control of him. Cyanara would not wait long. His desperately roving eyes caught the inscription on the pedestal, and his heart sank. This inscription explained it all.

_Resist that one_

_Against his day._

_Gently to him_

_Never speak thou,_

_And destroy that_

_Raging one, lest_

_Over thee spread_

_Killing evil._

It was me... The thought hammered itself mercilessly into Mario's brain. _The fated life...the soul... I thought it was Peach, but it was me all along... How could I have been so blind? Now Penumbra's return is imminent—all because of me...all my fault..._

Weakly he looked up and met the piercing gaze of those black eyes. A smile crossed the coldness of his enemy's face. At long last Mario lay powerless at her feet. She had won.

"Your time is up, Mario," she said, narrowing her eyes. "But _my_ time—it is just beginning." She held forth the Staff of Ragnarok to call on Penumbra's power.

Suddenly the Staff was snatched from her hands. Cyanara grasped thin air. Her look of triumph turned to one of shock. Frantically she looked about for the object. "My seventh artifact! No! Where is it?"

"Up here, Cyanara!"

The Empress turned hate-clouded eyes toward the ceiling and glared at the Star Kid who dared defy her.

"Twink!" Mario exclaimed.

Cyanara fired a hadoken beam at Twink. It bounced harmlessly off the Staff he carried. The artifact was indestructible.

"No one's gonna kill Mario or the Princess!" he cried hotly.

Another hadoken deflected from the Staff of Ragnarok. Cyanara became enraged. "You little pest—come back here with my Staff!"

"_Mario's_ staff, you mean," Twink retorted. "You're just a dirty thief!"

"Twink," Mario called from the floor, "seal Penumbra back in his own tomb! Get him out of me!"

The Staff began to glow.

"N-No!" Cyanara shouted. "Nooo! My plan! _Penumbra!_"

One by one the artifacts in Mario's possession started to glow—the Ruby, the Hammer, the Firewheel, the Leaf, the Sphere, and the Sword. Combined with the Staff they totaled seven. Mighty Penumbra was at the mercy of little Twink.

Mario convulsed. His muscles tensed, his eyes gleamed red, and a horrible screeching scream burst from his lungs. Then a black, ghostly being slowly rose from Mario's body as if being ripped from the plumber's soul. Thirteen white chains bound the ghoul firmly.

"Foooools..." hissed the demon. "Though you seeeeeal me awaaaaay, I will retuuuuurn..."

With a parting scream Penumbra was sucked out of the room to return to his prison beyond the door of his tomb.

Cyanara whirled about and faced the fallen Mario. A gleam of rage glittered in her evil black eyes. She did not give vent to her anger, however.

"You think you've won, don't you?" she asked, her rage simmering beneath her quiet tone.

Mario rolled his eyes. "It's a bit obvious, isn't it?"

"No, it isn't." Her voice dropped to a sinister whisper. "So you've trumped my hand. I don't really care. I always have a backup, Mario—I _always_ have an ace in the hole." A sly smile spread over her face again, and she snapped her fingers.

Instantly the artifacts in Mario's pockets vanished. The Aeshma Sword and its sheath and belt disappeared from his waist. The Staff of Ragnarok vanished from Twink's grip. Mario gasped. "My—My artifacts! How—" He chanced to look behind the Empress, and he broke off mid-sentence.

Quicksilver smiled knowingly at him. Mario's seven artifacts were heaped in his arms.

"So it was you," Mario said quietly. "I should have known. I suspected all along that you were being less than honest with me, Quicksilver, but I kept my mouth shut. Guess I was too trusting to believe you were really a traitor."

"It was all a lie, Mario. Every one of my words and actions was planned to deceive you," Quicksilver informed him, still wearing that triumphant smile. "Everything except my little story in Wario's treasure room. That much was true. I do hate the Empress's associates. That's why I took this job—to prove to her that _I_ am the best. The others are worthless."

Mario blinked. "Then Zaron—"

Quicksilver stepped aside to reveal the black specter lying limp on the floor. "He's dead."

"That's why you fought Zaron and Doopliss before," realized Mario.

"Not bad for a dumb plumber," Quicksilver conceded. "You've figured that much out. But there are still some things I've got to clear up just so I can see the look on your face when I tell you about them. For instance, why didn't I ever actually help you collect an artifact?"

"...You dirty spy," Mario muttered.

"I could have easily gotten them all for you with my abilities, but I didn't. I conveniently stepped back, but like the stubborn fool you are you went right ahead, ignoring the danger, and came back with the artifact every time. Remember your drum duel with Chief Guy? Your escape from Mt. Fierno? Your fight with the Cloud Falcon? Did I help you out with any of it? Just now, when I very nicely offered to handle Zaron for you—was I really doing you a favor? No, everything I've done has been for an ulterior motive. I worked with you only to report your every move to the Empress and give her the upper hand in the end."

"Is that the end of your evil bad guy monologue, Quicksilver?" he asked sarcastically. "Because I'm almost sick to my stomach with your little speech."

"Not quite, Mario. How about the cave-in in Crystal Caverns? That was my doing."

"I thought as much. You really were quite heroic-sounding when you pretended to try to dig us out," Mario responded, still sarcastic.

Quicksilver's smile showed his pleasure in his deceit. "Why did I retrieve the Amrita Sphere from that Bandit for you? Only so the Empress would not lack an artifact in the end. Why did I help you get into Wario's castle? So you could get another artifact and save the Great One some time and trouble. Why did I rescue Mercedes from that doomed helicopter over Aotearoa? Only so you wouldn't suspect me as a spy." Quicksilver spoke in deadly earnest. "_Everything_ was done for the plan—not for you."

Cyanara laid a hand on Quicksilver's shoulder. "You've proven yourself, Quicksilver. From now on you are my right-hand man."

He knelt before his superior. "Thank you, Master. I am not worthy of such an honor."

"What are you going to do now?" Mario asked, dreading the answer.

"It's a bit obvious, isn't it?" Cyanara counter-questioned, mocking Mario's earlier response. "I'm taking these thirteen sacred objects and my naive little sister to Penumbra's Tomb with me. Of course you'll follow us—you wouldn't dream of leaving your sweet princess to die at the hands of that terrible demon, would you?" She laughed. "Once you've entered the land beyond the door in the Tomb, I will restore to Penumbra his full malevolent power. He will possess you, take over your consciousness, and then—" Cyanara laughed again and pointed at Peach.

"No...gasped Mario. "I won't... I'll never kill her! You lie!"

"I'm afraid I speak the truth," Cyanara responded. "You'll watch as a prisoner in your own body as your own hands murder your innocent little princess. Farewell, foolish plumber. Despite your 'noble' efforts the world will soon be at my feet. You've failed, Mario—again you've failed."

Turning, the Empress took the artifacts from Quicksilver and directed him to carry the still-unconscious Princess. He lifted her easily and bore her limp chain-bound body up the staircase after Cyanara. Silence blanketed the chamber when they had gone.

Twink flew down to Mario, anxious. "Mario, you gotta get up! Cyanara's getting away with Princess Peach and the artifacts! Come on, get up!"

Mario tried to rise, but his wounds prevented him. "It's no good, Twink," he sighed at last. "Get Mercedes. Don't worry about me just now."

The Star Kid zipped over to the unconscious girl in gray and bumped her cheek several times, trying to stir her. After a few minutes her eyes fluttered open. Her hand involuntarily went to her chest as the pain of Cyanara's energy strikes hit her. She clenched her teeth.

"Mercedes," called Mario, "you OK?"

"I-I'll be all right," she gasped as she sat up. Her chest felt as if it were on fire. Slowly the pain subsided and she could breath normally again. "What happened?"

"Cyanara got the Staff," Mario groaned. "Twink here managed to get it away from her and seal Penumbra back inside the Tomb, but then Quicksilver stole all of the artifacts and he and Cyanara took Peach away. He betrayed us."

"Betrayed..." whispered the girl. "Again betrayed..." Her eyes welled with tears.

"Mercedes, don't cry," Mario said quietly. "It'll be all right."

The tears spilled over. "How many times will I be betrayed?" sobbed the girl. "Why can I trust no one safely? Why must all of those closest to me turn their backs on me? Why?" A heart-wrenching cry burst from her lips. "It is too painful to trust! Too painful!"

"It _can_ be painful, Mercedes, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't trust," Mario reminded her.

"Why?" Mercedes sobbed. "What is the use? Why should I allow myself to be hurt time and time again? There is no end to this pain!" The old fear began to return to her face as she wept. "Trust only hurts!"

"Mercedes," answered Mario, "yes, trust can bring hurt." He pulled Peach's engagement ring from his pocket, and a tear dropped from his own eye. "But it can also bring love."

Mercedes stared at the ring through her tears.

"Just because someone takes advantage of trust doesn't mean trust doesn't work. It works. And it's one of the best things I know of."

The girl wavered in her thoughts.

"Come on, Mercedes," Mario urged. "You trust me. Why can't you trust others?"

Slowly Mercedes nodded and dried her tears. "You're hurt." She drew out her flute and played a soothing melody. Mario felt strength rush into his body, and his wounds healed themselves almost immediately. He rose to his feet, amazed. Across the room Leika was also getting up. She too was completely healed.

Mercedes stood, placed her flute back in her cloak, and came up to Mario. She stopped directly in front of him and gazed into his eyes.

"Thank you," she murmured gratefully. "Thank you for everything." She kissed him gently.

Mario pulled back a bit, surprised. "M-Mercedes—"

"I know, Mario—it's you and Peach, but—I had to." A tear rolled from her eye. "I owe you so much that I—I—" She broke down and could say no more.

"You don't need to thank me," Mario softly reminded her. "You've more than repaid me with your help over the last couple of days. Any debt you had is already settled." He put a hand on her shoulder. "You're a good friend, Mercedes."

She sniffled. "Thanks."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. Finally Mercedes began to speak.

"Cyanara possesses all thirteen artifacts." She turned to gaze in the direction of Penumbra's Tomb, dropping Mario's hand from her shoulder. "She will take them through the door in the Tomb into the land of eternal darkness, the world of ageless night, cut off from the realm of the living. Chaos Rift." She shivered and wrapped her cloak more tightly about her. Her face paled a bit. "Penumbra lies imprisoned there once again."

"...What then?" Mario questioned hesitantly.

"She will unchain him. The artifacts will imbue him with power once again. Once unleashed—" she swallowed and paled still further—"he will be unstoppable. Not even the Empress will be able to control him."

"And then?"

Mercedes turned and locked her gaze with his. Her eyes were wide, hollow, haunted, like those of a hunted animal. A violent shiver ran through her frail figure.

"The end of the world."

Mario gulped. "...Oh."

"We can't just let her get away with it!" Leika interposed, breaking out of her silence.

"Yeah!" chimed in Twink. "Let's catch up with the Empress and get Princess Peach and those artifacts back!"

"It is already too late," Mercedes lamented. "Even if we started immediately she would still reach Penumbra's Tomb before us. Her lead is too great. We will never catch her before she enters the door."

"Maybe not." Mario stepped forward. "Maybe we can't catch her. But we _can_ chase her through the door and take out Penumbra ourselves!"

Mercedes gasped. "Impossible... It would be suicide!"

"It _would_ be suicide if I did it alone," Mario agreed. "But I'm not alone." He smiled at his companions. "What do you say?"

"Let's go!" cried Leika.

"Yeah!" added Twink.

Mercedes trembled. "Chaos Rift—Penumbra—I—"

"Mercedes," Mario said gently, "Penumbra has terrified you long enough. If you're afraid—do something about it! Let's get rid of him once and for all!"

Slowly the girl moved to his side and twined her hands in his. "I'll go only if you're there with me," she relented with a shiver. "I can't bear that place alone."

"We'll all be there with you, Mercedes." Mario's voice was reassuring. "Now let's go! To Penumbra's Tomb! It's time for the final showdown!"


	19. Chaos and Justice

"Not a bad ride," Mario quipped as the two dozen Boos carried him and Mercedes through the night sky. "Feels almost like Lakitu's cloud. Comfy."

Mercedes smiled beside him. "Didn't you know that ghosts can carry humans?"

"Oh, sure I did," Mario replied, "but the only other time I was carried by Boos before was to be dumped _out_ of somewhere, not put _into_ somewhere."

"They won't be putting us inside the fortress," Mercedes corrected him. "They'll set us down outside the front gate. They don't dare go inside."

"Not even a ghost will go into Cyanara's fortress?" Mario whistled. "Now _that's_ saying something."

He turned around and called back to Twink and Leika. "Come on, you slowpokes! Hurry up!"

"You haven't been flying all day," wheezed Leika as she hummed her tired wings a little faster. "Have pity."

Twink flew circles around the winded fairy. "Faster, faster!" he chanted.

Leika took aim and smacked Twink right into Mario's face. "There," she puffed, "that's called killing two pests with one smack. Now be quiet, both of you! I'm coming as fast as I can!"

Mario had the Boos slow down, and Leika caught up to them. She yanked Mario's mustache for good measure before seating herself on Mercedes's shoulder.

"You've made your point, Leika," the plumber chuckled.

The Boos sped up again, skimming rapidly over Forever Forest toward Cyanara's fortress. In no time they were over Toad Town, then the Princess's castle. Another few minutes brought the group to the gate of the fortress. Their ghostly carriers set them down just outside the gates and promptly fled.

"Even ghosts are scared of this place," Mario murmured.

The massive oaken gates were open already. "Cyanara's inside," guessed Mario. "Come on, we've got to catch her!"

The group dashed into the cathedral-like main hallway and stood bewildered at the array of doors lining its sides. "There's so many doors!" Twink exclaimed, slowly gliding down the vast hall. "Which one should we take?"

"I don't remember," Mario answered. "Mercedes, your song―"

"My songs won't work here, Mario," the girl replied quietly. "This is Penumbra's domain. His evil saturates the very air here."

"You can't show us the path like you did in Forever Forest?" he asked, almost pleading.

Mercedes shook her head.

Mario sighed. "This is gonna take a while."

They set to work opening each door until Mario found a familiar hallway. The group filed through the door, only to find still more doors lining this second, smaller hall. Suddenly the door they'd entered by slammed itself shut and locked behind them. They all jumped.

"Deja vu," Mario muttered.

"The door in the Tomb has been opened," uttered the girl in gray in fear. "Penumbra has extended his evil influence into the fortress itself. It has become an extension of him. He controls it." She shuddered. "We are at his mercy..."

"He won't hurt us," Mario stated confidently. "Not now. He still wants me. In fact, he'll lead us right to him."

"How?" Leika questioned.

One of the doors down the hall swung open by itself. The fairy stared at it.

"That's how," Mario replied. "He'll open the doors we need to go through. Just keep calm and follow me."

Mario strode determinedly forward and passed through the open doorway ahead, the others following. As he navigated the maze of halls and rooms for the second time that week, he thought ahead to his destination and those that awaited him there―Cyanara, the evil empress; Quicksilver, the betrayer; and Penumbra, the demon of darkness. And Peach.

_Peach..._ He reached into his pocket and pulled out the engagement ring he'd given her, the one she had dropped during her struggle with Cyanara. A tear rolled down his cheek as he contemplated the glittering diamond. Was she alive...or dead at the hands of Cyanara? Involuntarily he clutched the ring in his fist. _I'm coming, Peach―I'm coming for you. hang on. Hang on. Last time I was forced to take this route―today I'm coming of my own will. I'll be there for you. Just hang on._ He pressed forward still more quickly.

It was nearly midnight by the time the foursome had reached Penumbra's Tomb, deep in the bedrock beneath the fortress. The air there was even colder than Mario remembered. Through the shadows they could see the two halves of that gigantean door ajar by just a fraction, enough to admit a human being. A black, choking abyss of darkness lay within, and through it, ever so faintly, glowed the faint flicker of a thousand distant flames. Mario started forward, but Mercedes clutched his sleeve.

"Read the inscription on the doorframe," she whispered, pale-faced.

Mario squinted at the frame. Sure enough, there was a text etched into the stone all the way around the door, a text that sent shivers down Mario's spine.

_I go whence I shall not return,_

_Even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death._

_A land of darkness, as darkness itself;_

_And of the shadow of death, without any order,_

_And where the light is as darkness._

"Those are Penumbra's words?" Mario asked in hushed tones, turning to Mercedes.

"No," she answered. "Those are the words prophesied of Penumbra's chosen vessel. You, Mario. They speak of you."

Mario stood stock still, gazing up at the monstrous door that led to such a place of utter darkness. His own doom lay inside that realm.

"We have no choice," he said at last. "We're going in."

"No..." Mercedes seized his arm in desperation. "You...you can't..."

Mario met her terrified eyes with a firm gaze, and she calmed a little, relinquishing her vise grip on his sleeve. "Mercedes," he reminded her gently, "he's scared you long enough."

"...I-I'm ready," she quavered.

He took her hand in his, and the tension melted from her frail frame with a sigh.

Mario led the girl up to the door with Leika and Twink close behind him. Together the four peered into the void beyond the door. The distant fires glowed hauntingly through the blackness.

"Chaos Rift," whispered Mercedes.

Mario met her gaze again. "Do you trust me?"

There it was again―the critical question of trust. She shivered. Faced with almost certain death at the hands of a virulent demon, could she trust him now? The answer rang through her mind more clearly than ever before.

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

With that Mario released her hand. She started forward, step for step matching Mario's stride. The blackness opened its yawning mouth to swallow them up, but she kept going, fully trusting the hero beside her. They disappeared into the abyss, the foursome, and the mammoth door closed itself on them with utter finality. There was no turning back.

Immediately they were sucked down, down, down, through a rushing vortex. Bizarre shapes and dark color blends swirled past at dizzying speeds. Some invisible apparition mumbled his distorted phrases in their ears, the bass tones ringing in their brains and confusing them into a daze. Only one repeated phrase was intelligible in the chaotic garble.

"The land of no order...the land of no order...the land of no order...the land of no order..."

Abruptly they dropped from the vortex and hit solid rock. The four lay in a heap for a few minutes as the disorientation wore off.

Mario staggered to his feet in a daze. The dim landscape swam before his eyes, and he shook his head violently. When his vision finally cleared, he gazed in astonishment at the world outspread before him.

The barren landscape was composed entirely of black, gravelly lava rock. The sky loomed close, its black-and-gray clouds roiling fiercely overhead, and occasional lightning bolts flashed over the surface. But the one overwhelming feature of this otherwise dark world was fire. It was everywhere, springing up from nothing, burning without fuel, coating the ground like eternal napalm. The sight was awesome―and deadly.

"So this is Chaos Rift," he murmured. "Somewhere―somewhere in here, Penumbra's waiting for me."

Mercedes was at his elbow with Leika and Twink. "This is it," spoke the girl in gray. "The world beyond time and space, ageless and infinite." She shivered. "Truly this is a land of death."

"Friendly place, by the looks of it," Leika put in. Twink stared at the endless flames, eyes wide.

"Let's go." Mario started forward. "We've got a demon to put an end to."

The heat was intense. The flames reached so high that neither Leika nor Twink could fly over them. All four adventurers were forced to sweat their way through the infernal maze, wending between bonfires and pillars of flame, stumbling over stones and fissures, pressing ever onward into the raging, roaring belly of Chaos Rift.

A blast of hot air whipped across their path, choking them. Twink took shelter behind Mario, but Leika was caught by the gale and hurled into the wall of flames on their left. The fairy's screams rang in Mario's ears. He dashed forward, reached into the killing blaze, and jerked Leika out, thus scorching his own glove and shirtsleeve.

"Leika!" he exclaimed anxiously. "Are you OK?"

"I-I think so," replied Leika through her teeth. "Ow―hurts―ngh―"

Twink gently took the fairy from Mario's hands and bore her along behind the plumber. The group continued forward through the sea of fire. Despite his concern for Leika's injury, Mario knew there was no time to deal with it. Penumbra was the primary concern.

Abruptly the path terminated at a bottomless chasm. It was far too wide to jump, and there was no bridge. They halted at its edge. Mario examined the chasm closely, his mind in a quandary. What to do?

A jet of flames shot up from below, lifting a slab of lava rock up with it. More jets shot up, one after the next, each with a rocky platform atop it, all in a row like a series of stepping stones. Then the jets died out, starting with the closest and ending with the furthest away.

"Wait for my signal," Mario ordered. "We're going to cross." Mercedes paled but stood ready. A tense two minutes passed, and suddenly the jets returned. "Now!"

Mario and Mercedes leaped to the first platform and kept going, headed for the opposite side of the gap. It seemed a mile away. Jump, jump, jump, like a giant game of leapfrog, betting skill against certain death.

Suddenly the jets began to die out behind them. Mario urged Mercedes forward, and the two sped up their leaping. The platform five jets back dropped into the abyss. They kept on going, but the dropout effect was beginning to catch up with them. The fourth platform back fell. The third. The edge was close. A few more jumps and safety was theirs. The second back dropped out; then the one immediately behind them. No sooner had they leaped from the final platform than it collapsed back into the chasm. They landed safely on the opposite edge, winded. Twink glided over the chasm with Leika.

"You all right, Mercedes?" wheezed Mario.

The girl gasped oxygen into her lungs. "Yes," she panted, "I'm...fine..." The two caught their breath for a moment.

A cold laugh rang out behind them as they faced the chasm. "Well, well, look who just showed up―late, as usual."

The four spun around to face the Empress. Mario's fists went up.

"Let's not be so hasty, Mario," Cyanara admonished suavely, snapping her fingers. Quicksilver shoved Peach to the rough ground and held her there with the point of his halberd. Peach simply lay there, not caring, too weak to resist.

"Let her go!" rang out Mario's challenge. "Release her or I'll―"

"You'll do what?" asked the Empress innocently. Nothing you might do could possibly hurt me. Besides, I'm not the main attraction here." She pointed above her. "He is."

Mario lifted his eyes to the churning sky. High over Cyanara's head hung a large back mass wrapped with thirteen gleaming white chains. It writhed as if in pain, straining against the unbreakable bonds. Mercedes gasped and turned ashen pale.

"Penumbra," murmured Mario.

Cyanara smiled. "Yes, Mario―Penumbra."

Quicksilver stepped to her side, artifacts heaped in his arms.

"Don't do it!" Mario yelled.

"But I must," soothed the Empress. "The time has come for all on this planet, be they great or small, to grovel at the feet of their sovereign. With Penumbra at my command I will rule all!"

"No, you won't!" Mercedes cried. "He cannot be controlled! STOP!"

Cyanara pulled her silver bracelet from her wrist with a smile. "We shall see." Aloud she began to call out the names of the artifacts one by one.

"Khensu―the illumination.

"Aeshma―the maliciousness.

"Amrita―the immortality.

"Lethe―the forgetfulness.

"Embla―the life.

"Goibniu―the strength.

"Helios―the force.

"Ostara―the regeneration.

"Zeus―the power.

"Izanami―the divinity.

"Girru―the intensity.

"Daksha―the knowledge.

"Ragnarok―the doom."

There was silence for a few moments when she had finished. Mario's group stared up at the chained black mass in apprehension. It vibrated ever so slightly.

Suddenly a tremendous blast of thunder, like a cannon next to one's ear, deafened Mario and his companions. From the churning clouds there shot down thirteen searing bolts of lightning that struck and severed the chains binding the demon, and as the thunder blasted forth again, the black form began to swell. As the demon neared its final enormous size, that bizarre bass voice echoed from the clouds, its words chilling Mario to the core.

_"Lo! thy dread empire, Chaos, is restor'd,_

_Light dies before thy uncreating word:_

_Thy hand, great Anarch, lets the curtain fall,_

_And universal darkness buries all."_

The swollen black mass glided toward Mario's party and the edge of the chasm. Mario grabbed Mercedes's hand and yanked her forward, beneath the demon, to a safer spot away from the edge. Twink and Leika joined them, and together the four stared at the mass of blackness as it unfolded to reveal its true form. The lump separated into two incredibly huge black hands, floating some distance apart from each other, their steely claws glinting in the light of a million bonfires. They were unattached to any body―for the demon had no body, only two giant red eyes glaring hungrily from mid-air between the hands. Penumbra's power had been restored him.

"At laaaaast...my power is retuuuuurned to meeeee..." hissed the demon.

"Yes, Penumbra," affirmed Cyanara peremptorily. "Now destroy these imbeciles!" She pointed at Mario and his huddled group.

Penumbra did nothing.

"We have a pact!" shouted the Empress angrily. "I free you, you submit to me. I have done my part. Do yours!"

The demon turned his gleaming red eyes toward her. "I made no pact... Evil submits to no ooooone..." He lifted his massive hand.

Cyanara's eyes widened. "No―Penumbra, NO! NOOOOOOOO!"

Penumbra's huge hand smashed Cyanara against the lava rock under her feet. When it lifted, Mario saw the Empress crushed almost beyond recognition. Her breathing was almost stopped. The plumber stared at her bloodied body in shock.

"Maaaaariooooo..."

He turned to face the demon. Penumbra glared at him, red eyes burning into his very soul. Up went Mario's fists.

"Stiiiiill a foooool..." seethed the evil spirit. "A mere human cannot resist meeeee..."

The demon's glare moved to Mercedes, who shrank back from the haunting eyes and huddled against Mario's side. "Yooooou..." hissed Penumbra. "I know you, daughter of Luuuuunas... You come to destroy me, as did your ancestooooor?"

Mercedes shivered uncontrollably, face ashen white.

"Yooooou will faaaaail!" roared the demon. He slowly flexed his massive claws, red eyes burning bright. "I am the supreeeeeme god of darkness, the second of the Trinity of Destruuuuuction, and none shall staaaaand before me! Now, mooooortals―DIIIIIE!"

Penumbra swiped at the group with one great claw. The plumber jerked Mercedes backward, out of the way, barely avoiding the blow. He pushed the girl aside.

"Stay here!" he ordered the terrified Mercedes. "I'll handle this! Keep out of his reach!" Petrified, she could not respond. Mario rushed forward again with Twink beside him to do battle with his ultimate enemy.

Again the giant hand struck at him to crush him as it had Cyanara. Mario rolled aside to avoid the attack, springing to his feet and hurling ice balle at the demonic fiend. Penumbra roared in pain and ignited blazing bonfires in both hands, channeling jets of flame into the murky clouds overhead. The clouds glowed fiery red as they absorbed the inferno. Suddenly a blazing hailstorm rained from the heated clouds like a burning meteor shower, the flaming hailstones pummeiling Mario backward and scorching his skin and clothing.

As the fiery rain died out, Penumbra emitted a piercing scream for nearly a full minute. The scream rang painfully in Mario's ears, making him cover his ears and stagger in pain as the sound pierced his skull. The audio attack left the plumber dazed and disoriented. Penumbra took advantage of this distraction to sideswipe Mario with his giant claw, tumbling him across the lava rock like a mere toy.

Mario scrambled to his feet, determined not be caught off-guard again. "Twink! Distract him so I can get close enough for a direct hit!"

"Yes, sir!" The energetic Star Kid dashed through the air toward the malicious demon. Enraged, Penumbra swung his massive hands at the pesky star, but Twink easily evaded the slashing claws, angering the demon still further.

"Diiiiie, little brat!" hissed Penumbra, swinging at Twink again.

Suddenly Mario was right below Penumbra. The plumber sprang upward toward those gleaming red eyes and punched with all his might―and connected. Penumbra reeled backward as Mario landed with a gravelly crunch. Twink retreated, breathing heavily.

"Give it up, Penumbra!" shouted Mario. "You can't win!"

The demon recovered his balance and brought his hands together. "You will regret those wooooords!" He began forming a massive fireball between his hands. The sphere of flame grew until it was easily ten times larger than Mario; then Penumbra hurled it at him. Mario leaped to the side, but the humongous fireball homed in on him like a giant missile. He ran, but the effort was futile. The fireball was closing in on him, searing his back, preparing to incinerate him...

A rainbow beam shot from off to his right and dissolved the massive sphere. Mario turned to see Leika, still wincing from her burns, hovering near Mercedes. She smiled at him.

"Faaaaairy!" roared Penumbra. "Raaaaainbow Fairy! You defyyyyy me?"

"No demon is ever going to turn Mario into an ash sculpture while I'm around!" Leika shot back.

With a vicious roar Penumbra slammed both hands into the ground, breaking through the veneer of rock and splashing a wave of lava at the foursome. Leika used her rainbow energy to create a thin barrier around the group for a few seconds. The magma rolled harmlessly off the shield.

"Scatter!" yelled Mario. "Don't let him concentrate his attacks on all of us at once!"

Mercedes and Leika dashed left, and Mario and Twink broke hard right. Penumbra immediately went for Mario, pouring a jet of flames from his hand at the weaving plumber. The scorching jet missed Mario by inches and melted another hole in the lava rock, revealing the hot lava beneath. Time after time Penumbra shot his fiery jets at Mario. Soon the battle area was a sea of boiling magma with rocky islands floating about in it. Obviously this hindered Mario's opportunities to avoid Penumbra's attacks. Realizing he could no longer dodge and that he would never be able to best his opponent in pitched combat, Mario slowly raised his hands in surrender.

"Seeeee?" hissed Penumbra. "I knew you could never defeeeeeat meeeee..."

Mercedes, trapped on her own island of rock, gasped as she saw Mario cornered by the demon.

"Now you are miiiiine...and I will taaaaake you for my ooooown...foreveeeeer..."

From the side, Quicksilver watched with hate in his eyes as Penumbra prepared to invade Mario's body. He glared at both human and demon―at Mario out of sheer virulent detest, at Penumbra because _he_ wanted to kill Mario himself. He gripped his halberd with a vengeance.

Peach lay in chains at Quicksilver's feet, barely alive. Opening bloodshot eyes she stared weakly up into the face of her captor and saw the hatred brooding there. She saw him brace himself for a dash forward. Her swift intuition, not the least impaired by her physical condition, told her that this man was up to no good. So she did the only logical thing she could think of. She wriggled around and placed her shackled ankles directly in front of Quicksilver's silver boots. So intent was Quicksilver on his intended target that he failed to notice her motion.

Time slowed to a crawl. Penumbra was gliding toward the helpless Mario, hands outstretched to seize him and fill him with his evil soul. Quicksilver, however, was moving at normal speed, his abilities making his motion appear rapid even in this slowed-down time frame. He aimed his double halberd at Mario's throat, gritted his teeth, and shot forward. Immediately he tripped over Peach's ankles and was sent flying uncontrollably through the air toward the hungry demon. As Penumbra's hands were about to close on Mario, Quicksilver's tumbling form fell between demon and victim.

Time rushed back to normal with Quicksilver's scream. Mario opened his eyes to see his erstwhile comrade in Penumbra's killing grip, emitting scream after hysteric scream as Penumbra's soul soaked into his body. He stared at the sight in shock. Penumbra had missed. The demon's soul finished seeping into Quicksilver, and the victim dropped to the rocky island Mario stood on, completely unconscious.

"Mario!" screamed Mercedes frantically from across the lava sea. "Get away from him!"

Mario wasted no time in leaping to another island several feet away, Twink following him. Both turned and watched Quicksilver anxiously.

Penumbra's unintended victim stirred. His skin carried an unusual black tint, and his face was harder than usual. He opened his eyes wide.

They glowed red.

The possessed Quicksilver stood to his feet, glaring viciously at Mario. "Foooool..." he hissed. "I attempted to obtain yooooour body as my vessel...but insteeeeead I get another, strooooonger one! No longer do I need yooooou..." He plunged his halberd into the lava. It came up blazing. "So I will _kill_ yooooou!"

Dark Quicksilver levitated off the platform and floated out over the lava. A ring of floating platforms emerged from the lava, surrounding him at a little distance. The island Mario stood on was included in this ring. Quickly Mario made ready to leap and dodge to the best of his ability. He didn't have long to wait. The halberd came at him like a blazing buzzsaw. He ducked. The weapon looped around and boomeranged back to its owner.

Now Dark Quicksilver aimed his halberd at Mario and fired a jet of flames from it at him. Had Mario remained on his little island at all, he would have been instantly char-broiled. Instead he leaped to the platform on his left and hurled several ice balls at his foe. The projectiles made Dark Quicksilver flinch. He retaliated by slashing downward with his halberd, impacting the lava and sending a burning shockwave toward Mario. Mario jumped to the next island over, and the shockwave sliced his former foothold in half. Again he hit Dark Quicksilver with ice. His enemy screamed in hatred and hurled his halberd at Mario in his boomerang attack. Mario easily leaped over the whirling weapon. It returned to its owner.

"You cannot resist me foreveeeeer..." seethed Dark Quicksilver. "Nooooow you fall!" He plunged one end of his red-hot halberd into the lava. Mario's platform rumbled.

"Mario, get off!" yelled Twink frantically. Mario leaped to the island on his left just before his old one split in half as a jet of lava shot up from beneath it.

Leika now flew into the fray, striking Dark Quicksilver's back with her rainbow beams. The demoniac whirled around and returned fire using his own flaming jets. Nimbly the fairy darted out of the way and began to rapidly circle her enemy, shooting at him all the while. Mario took advantage of his foe's preoccupation and hit him with more ice balls. Dark Quicksilver reeled. Twink took the offensive for once and charger his unsuspecting opponent, driving him backward upon impact.

"Give it up, Penumbra!" Mario repeated.

"Neveeeeer..." Dark Quicksilver sank into the lava, rising moments later completely unharmed. His silver apparel glowed red-hot, and his body dripped with the scalding magma, matching the fiery red gleam of his eyes. Opening his mouth, he spewed flames at Mario like a dragon. This time he hit the plumber. Mario yelled in pain and leaped to the next island, badly singed.

"Nooooow we finish this!" hissed Dark Quicksilver. His red eyes gleamed yet more brightly, and from them burst twin red rays, slicing through the platform Mario stood on. Had Mario not jumped up to avoid them, he would have been halved by the deadly beams. As it was he landed on half of his original island and nearly tipped into the lava. The possessed Quicksilver flung his hands upward like an orchestra conductor, and the magma beneath the demoniac exploded upward in a massive eruption, raining hot lava onto the surrounding area. Mario barely had room to dodge on his tiny platform and was struck several times. He screamed as the molten rock seared his skin.

"Mario!"

Mario turned to see Peach on another island several yards away, actually standing. "Mario, be careful!"

Dark Quicksilver lifted his head and fastened his hungry red eyes on the rainbow-clad Peach. A hiss escaped his teeth.

"No!" yelled Mario. "Peach!"

"Rainbow...Guardian..." seethed the possessed Quicksilver in Penumbra's voice. "It was the Guaaaaardians who helped seeeeeal me awaaaaay..."

In a flash Dark Quicksilver was on top of the Princess, striking her to the ground. He held his blazing halberd millimeters from her heart. She gasped in terror―her physical invincibility would not protect her against such a weapon.

"PEACH!" Mario screamed.

"I swooooore years agooooo...that I would have my reveeeeenge on the Guaaaaardians..." Dark Quicksilver shook his halberd in rage. "Yooooou will be the fiiiiirst of them to diiiiie!" Peach cringed. He raised his weapon and stabbed it toward her heart.

Peach dared to open her eyes. The flaming blade had stopped millimeters from her chest. Dark Quicksilver's face was strangely pale. He shook like a leaf in the wind. Slowly, slowly, the haunting gleam faded from his eyes, and he toppled forward, Mercedes's flute solidly embedded in his back. Peach stared at him.

"Peach!" Mario Long Jumped to her island and lifted her to her feet, seizing her in his embrace. "Peach! Thank the Stars you're all right!" Still chained, Peach could only rest her head on his shoulder and cry.

"Oh, Mario, I was so worried about you!" she sobbed in relief. "Cyanara told me so many times she'd killed you!"

Mario just hugged her more tightly, dropping a few tears himself. His Princess was safe at last.

"Let's get these chains off you," he said suddenly, turning to the crushed Cyanara lying nearby. Amazingly she was still breathing. Mario snatched the key from her waistband and freed Peach from her bonds. Immediately Peach flung her arms around Mario's neck and kissed him.

"You've never looked half as beautiful to me as you do right now," Mario whispered into her ear. She blushed.

Abruptly the Princess staggered and would have collapsed had not Mario caught her. Her face turned pale. The adrenaline from her near-death experience had worn off.

"We've got to get you back to the castle," Mario told her urgently, wincing as he noticed her condition. "Cyanara did this to you, didn't she?" Weakly Peach nodded, too weak to say more.

Mercedes's island drifted close to Mario's, and she and Leika joined Mario on his chunk of rock. Silently she pulled her flute from Quicksilver's back and returned it to her cloak. Not a drop of blood stained the instrument; neither was there a puncture wound in Quicksilver's back.

"It pierced his soul, not his flesh," she said quietly, seeing Mario's puzzled gaze. "Quicksilver himself was not harmed. Penumbra is dead."

Mario nodded. "Could you get the artifacts from Cyanara? I want to take them along when we go back to the castle."

Mercedes turned toward the unconscious Empress. The artifacts lay heaped at the edge of the platform near her fallen form. Before the girl could approach them the rock cracked, split, and tipped beneath them, tumbling the fateful objects into the oozing lava. She watched in silence as the magma closed over them.

"They're gone," she quietly informed him. "All that remained of Penumbra is gone."

Mario lifted the Princess in his arms. "Then I wasn't meant to have them," he concluded. "The fire has claimed its own."

Suddenly the lava and fire and roiling clouds of Chaos Rift vanished from around them, and they found themselves back in Penumbra's Tomb, outside the mammoth door. The door was shut, and no seam marked the place where it might open again. It was sealed―sealed forever.

Mario looked around. Twink and Leika were safe, as was Mercedes. They were right beside him. Peach was secure in his strong arms. But his foes had also been transported out of the Rift; Quicksilver sprawled on the cold stone floor near the exit, and Cyanara lay unconscious on the black altar in the room's center.

"Mario." Peach stirred in his arms. "Let me down."

"Can you stand?" he asked in concern.

"I-I think so..."

Gently Mario set Peach on her feet. She swayed unsteadily and held Mario's arm for support.

"Mario―take the top off the altar."

Mario looked quizzically at her but motioned for Mercedes to give her support. He himself went to the altar and dragged Cyanara's limp body off it, then lifted the stone top off. He was amazed to find it hollow inside.

"Put her inside, Mario," commanded Peach weakly.

"Peach?" Mario stared at her. "Are you―"

"I'm doing what must be done," she replied with a tear in her eye. "She may be my sister, but she cannot be permitted to terrorize my people. Her reign of fear ends here."

Mario heaved Cyanara to his shoulder and half-dropped her dead weight into the altar-turned-sarcophagus. He went for the lid.

"Peach..."

The Princess started. "C-Cyanara?"

She moved unsteadily to the sarcophagus, Mercedes supporting her. Cyanara stared up at her with bloodied eyes. Her face was mangled almost beyond recognition. No ordinary human could have survived such a violent crushing blow as the one Penumbra had dealt her. Yet she was alive still.

"Peach..." rasped the Empress through cracked lips, "this isn't the end... I will return to haunt your steps again someday!"

Peach gazed back at her powerless sibling. Sympathy welled in her heart, and for a moment she considered letting her go free. But her common sense told her that Cyanara was too great a threat to be ignored.

"Cyanara," she said at last, still weak, "you still have the thing you took from me. I'm taking it back―and rest assured that I will never let you have it again. Never." She reached into the sarcophagus, plucked the royal crown from Cyanara's head, and placed it where it truly belonged―on her own blonde head.

"I won't forget this..." Cyanara trembled in rage. "A curse on you, Peach... May destruction ever curse your kingdom!"

"Anything else you'd like to add to your ending monologue, Cyanara?" Mario asked innocently, holding the stone lid to the sarcophagus in his hands. "Because I'd really rather not hear those cliched final words of yours." He lifted the lid to close the sarcophagus with it.

"I will have my revenge!" screamed the Empress as the lid came down.

The lid cut off Cyanara's ravings mid-sentence. Mario rolled his eyes. "See what I mean?"

"Stand back," Peach commanded. "The task is not yet complete." And to Mario's shock, the Princess pulled the Khensu Moonseal from her rainbow robe. He stared at it.

"Peach―the Moonseal―?"

"It fell from Cyanara's grasp when Penumbra struck her down. I managed to get it before Quicksilver noticed." Peach placed the bracelet atop the sarcophagus and pressed it firmly against the stone surface, channeling her magic into the mystic object. It began to glow with its moon-like radiance. Suddenly from the seam where lid met coffin there burst a blazing light, and the seam disappeared, sealing the sarcophagus shut. The light vanished.

Peach removed the Moonseal from its place and replaced it in her robe. The object left a ring etched in the stone lid.

"It's done," she said in finality. "The sarcophagus is sealed. No longer will Cyanara pose a threat to the Mushroom Kingdom." A sigh escaped her lips, and she toppled sideways. Mario barely caught her before she hit the floor. He lifted her limp, exhausted body in his arms again.

"We're going back to the castle right now," Mario ordered her. "Dr. Herb T. needs to have a good look at you."

"Mario..." Peach whispered.

"Not now, Peach," Mario interrupted firmly. "Don't talk now. Just rest."

"No...I...I lost...your ring...the engagement ring..." Her eyes watered. "I'm...I'm sorry..."

Mario chuckled. "Is that all?" He carefully brought the ring out from his pocket and slipped it back onto Peach's finger.

"You...you had it all along..." whispered Peach.

Mario smiled at her. "It was the only thing that kept me going at times."

"I love you," she whispered up to him with a tired smile.

"I love you too." Mario bent his head down and kissed her cheek. "Now let's get you home. You've got a _long_ bed rest ahead of you." He started toward the exit doors of the Tomb. Twink and Leika followed readily, but Mercedes hung back.

"Come on, Mercedes," Mario urged her. "You don't have anywhere else to go, do you? Peach would be more than happy to have you at the castle. What do you say?"

The girl in gray slowly shook her head. "N-No, I can't. I-I must return to Star Mountain. That...that is my home..." A tear dropped from her eye at a painful memory.

"I can't force you to come along," Mario acknowledged. "It's up to you. You're welcome at the castle any time, I'm sure. Goodbye, Mercedes. I hope I'll get to see you again someday."

Mario opened the door and exited the room, carrying Peach. Twink and Leika followed.

Mercedes remained in Penumbra's Tomb after they had gone. Her pretty dark eyes had seen something that no one else had noticed. Slowly the old fear crept back into her pale face and hollow eyes; her frail figure shivered, more from fright and uncertainty than from the chilly air of the Tomb. Her hand went to her mouth to block a cry. There had been two foes in this room. Cyanara was sealed in the sarcophagus, perhaps forever. But Quicksilver -

Quicksilver was gone.


	20. Epilogue: Cyanara's Curse

Ray moved slowly about the Empress's laboratory, monitoring the computers that controlled the experiment currently underway. Just yesterday he'd discovered a way to synthesize DNA. Now the experiment this early in the day was reconfirming his discovery. He checked his watch. It was one AM.

"That's it...come on..." He stared at the screen anxiously.

"Ray!"

The scientist jumped and whirled around in his chair. "Quicksilver! What are you doing here? You should be with the Empress in Penumbra's Tomb!"

Quicksilver gasped for breath. It was highly unusual for him to be so winded. Ray watched him concernedly. "What happened to you?"

"Let's just say the plan failed," Quicksilver wheezed. "Penumbra's dead. Mario got away. And the Empress has been sealed inside the altar in the Tomb. I saw it happen. She's gone."

Ray slowly stood from his seat, eyes full of disbelief. "So she knew," he murmured. "She knew she would lose. She let herself be defeated. Project Omega...an incredible gamble...but she was right..."

"Speak English so I can understand you for once," Quicksilver admonished sarcastically. "No scientific mumbo-jumbo. And speak up."

"She knew," Ray said deliberately. "She knew she would lose in the end. So she had me working on a top-secret project—something to be used only in the event of her defeat. Project Omega." He went to the wall and entered a four-digit passcode on the numeric keypad there. Immediately the huge blast door beside him slid up into the ceiling, revealing a refrigerated room with clouds of vapor blanketing the floor. Two open capsules, each large enough to admit a man, sat side by side on inclined racks. In each was contained a unique metal suit designed to enclose a man's body.

"What are those things?" Quicksilver inquired, strolling into the room behind Ray.

Ray fingered the first suit, a purple-and-yellow affair with a red lens over one eye. "Bionic suits, created to enhance the abilities of normal humans and allow them to manipulate matter and energy in accordance with the laws of quantum physics."

"So what do they do?" pressed Quicksilver.

"I cannot reveal all of their abilities. Some of the technology incorporated into these suits was of the Empress's own invention, and I know but little about her creations. But I do know this." He indicated the suit beneath his fingers. "This suit allows its wearer to transmute matter into pure energy and vice versa, enabling him to transform an object into anything he pleases. And the other suit—" he pointed to the gray-and-red streamlined suit in the other capsule—"is capable of passing through solid matter and becoming invisible at will."

"Good stuff," Quicksilver acknowledged with a brief nod. "Who gets to wear these things?"

Ray looked at him seriously. "The first is designed for me. The second is for you." He climbed into the capsule and fitted himself into his purple-and-yellow bionic suit. The suit automatically closed over him, making him look more robotic than human. His face was the only flesh showing.

"Get into your suit," he ordered Quicksilver.

Quicksilver obeyed and was encased by his own suit.

"O...K, I don't feel particularly powerful," he said slowly as the two lay in their respective capsules. "How do I use this suit?"

"That is the only drawback, Quicksilver," Ray responded quietly. His hand moved to a button inside his capsule. It was marked _Consciousness Overwrite_.

"...There's a down side to this?"

"Quicksilver," Ray asked, his hand hovering over the button, "what would you be willing to give to see the Empress restored to her rightful place?"

"My life," Quicksilver promptly responded.

Ray nodded. "Then so be it." He pushed the button.

The capsules closed over the two and rendered them instantly unconscious. Slowly the computers in the capsules accessed the men's brains; slowly they erased them—formatting, as Ray would have called it. Mental formatting. Their personalities were being wiped out, and the knowledge of their superhuman strengths was being written into their gray matter. The capsules remained sealed until four o'clock that morning. It was then that the consciousnesses of Ray and Quicksilver disappeared from existence.

With a hiss of escaping air the capsule lids slid back, exposing the bionic superhumans to the chill of the refrigerated room. The cold woke them from their slumber. Slowly, mechanically, the two humanoids climbed out of their capsules and set their feet on solid ground.

"The Empress has fallen," spoke the first, the one formerly called Ray. "It is our duty to free her from her prison and restore her to power."

"The Moonseal. We must retrieve the Moonseal," interposed the second, once known as Quicksilver. "Only the Moonseal can free her."

The first glanced around the laboratory through the red lens over his right eye. "We have preparations to make before we strike. The destruction of the kingdom must be brought to pass as quickly and as efficiently as possible once the Empress is freed."

"So it begins, Quanta," said the second.

Quanta turned. "Yes, Trace. So it begins."

**THIS IS NOT THE END.**

**IT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING...**

* * *

**Author's Note: **My apologies for not putting up the epilogue earlier; I've been _extremely_ busy (still am, actually). Super Mario 12 is still incomplete, but don't worry— this series will be completed. I refuse to leave my readers with a cliffhanger after experiencing so many myself.

Look forward to yet another action-packed mystery in _Quantum Destruction_, as Mario and an extremely unlikely pair of sidekicks race against time _and_ Cyanara's minions to solve riddles and defend the kingdom from Cyanara's wrath!


End file.
